


From the Ashes

by erttheking



Category: Fallout (Video Games), Mass Effect
Genre: Alternate Universe, Canon-Typical Violence, Crossover, Gen, Lots of OCs - Freeform, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-12
Updated: 2016-10-02
Packaged: 2018-04-20 09:59:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 38,624
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4783178
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/erttheking/pseuds/erttheking
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Even after seeing their world burned, Humanity was able to stand up again, and push beyond their pre-war status and reach the heavens. But how will a hardened Humanity handle life among the stars? And how will others react to this aggressive newcomer?  (This story is largely written already and will be updated regularly)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. What Doesn't Kill You

**Author's Note:**

> This is a story I started writing three and a half years ago, so the quality at the start is...lower compared to what I can do now. Hopefully you will find that the quality goes up as I post more chapters.

Author's Note: This chapter isn't really going to have much of anything, just a timeline explaining things. I'm going to take a couple of liberties mainly so that I can have a story where Humanity actually has some power. It's nothing too serious, mainly they just take a lot longer to make contact with the Council, so they have more time to repopulate and actually qualify as a galactic power, mainly because a weak Humanity is BORING to read and write about. Also thanks to the Fallout wiki for info on the timeline. Also for the record, for the Council's timeline, they make contact with Humanity in this story at the same time that they did with humanity in the original Mass Effect, in other words the Migrant Fleet has been flying around for 300 years and not 800. Just wanna make that clear. Let's go. Also I think I mentioned that it is a pain in the rear trying to shoehorn the Reapers into every crossover fic, so I decided to take care of them with the first timeline post, ok? Cool.

XXXXX

50,000 years ago: After much painstaking work, the Prothean team from Illos manages to salvage enough parts from the Citadel to finish a makeshift starship and an arsenal of nuclear warheads. Boarding the ship, they activated the Citadel and traveled into Dark Space, using the warheads to destroy all of the Reapers while they hibernated, at the cost of their own lives. The only Reaper not present in Dark Space, Sovereign, feels the neural shocks created by the destruction of its entire kind all at once. The strain was so great that the machine's mind was destroyed, leaving it a lifeless, but still functional, husk.

_War...war never changes._

August 14, 1945: V-P Day, the Japanese surrender to the Allies, marking the end of the second World War.

_The bloodiest war of its time, World War II ended with the first use of atomic weapons against a hostile nation. Hundreds of thousands died, some instantly, some slowly as a result of radiation sickness. Used in the hopes of ending the war quickly, in would in turn set off an arms race that would last over a century, marking the start of the Cold War._

1969: America is divided into 13 commonwealths in an attempt to better regulate the population by region.

_Instead of moving forward as man had done in the past, Humanity's mindset stopped developing, beginning to stagnate. Blinded by nationalism the way a fanatic is blinded by unquestioning faith. Never asking, never rationalizing, simply doing what he or she is told without thought. No matter the consequences._

April, 2052: The Resource Wars begin. Conflict breaks out between Middle Eastern nations and members of the European commonwealth who are dependent on their supplies of oil. The conflict would last for years to come and would reduce both sides to ruins.

July 27, 2052: The United Nations is officially disbanded.

2066: China invades Alaska, war begins with the United States and the People's Republic.

2069: The United States forcefully draws Canadian resources to assist in the war with China, straining them to the breaking point. Canadian protests fall on deaf ears.

2072: The combined American need for resources and the attempted sabotage of an Alaskan oil pipeline results in Canada being forcibly annexed by the United States.

2074: America launches an invasion of China, its limited resources becoming even more strained.

January 10, 2077: America reclaims Alaska

_Humanity fought among itself as its oil fields dried up, desperately scrabbling for the remaining scraps that were left, even though they were only furthering their own destruction. Until one day when it just became too much._

October 23, 2077: Nuclear missiles are launched by countless nations, including the United States of America, The People's Republic of China and the USSR. The Great War begins. It ended two hours later, but the effects would last for centuries.

_Nuclear fire consumed the world. The number of people who died in the atomic holocaust remain a mystery. Radiation and acid rain claimed the lives of countless people and species. Mutated creatures prowled the surface, preying on anything that crossed their paths, until most herbivores were all but extinct. However, Humanity lived on, some of them taking shelter in natural formations, some deep underground in massive bunkers known as Vaults, and some simply being fortunate enough to have survived the wave of radiation and fire. However, despite the total destruction of all nations, new ones sprouted up, and conflict followed Humanity even into the wastes._

December 5, 2161: An individual known to history as the Vault Dweller is sent out from Vault 13 to find a replacement water chip.

2162: The Vault Dweller retrieves the water chip, but encounters a mutant that calls himself the Master, who was raising an army of genetically engineered Humans known as Super Mutants to retake the wastes and rebuild it under his rule. However, his goal includes Humanity's extinction and Super Mutants becoming the new dominate species of the planet. The Vault Dweller defeats the Master and his army scatters without his leadership. The Dweller then returns to Vault 13. He is denied access by the overseer and is exiled for his contact with the outside world. Furious, many of the inhabitants follow him in self imposed exile.

July 2165: The Vault Dweller and his followers found the village of Arroyo.

October 2, 2188: The Vault Dweller's daughter is born.

2189: The New California Republic is formed, as are the Followers of the Apocalypse.

May 2241: Vault 13 receives a signal ordering their inhabitants to leave. A couple of days later, the doors open to reveal two squads of Enclave, remnants of the US government, soldiers waiting for them. Several inhabitants of the Vault are killed and the rest are captured. In the village of Arroyo, the grandson of the Vault Dweller, the Chosen One, leaves in search of a Garden of Eden Creation Kit (GECK) in order to save his failing village.

2242: The Chosen One succeeds in finding a GECK, but in his absence, Arroyo is attacked by the Enclave and its inhabitants abducted, intended to be used along with the inhabitants of Vault 13 in experiments to complete the Enclave's biological weapons. The Chosen One attacks the Enclave's oil rig and destroys it, rescuing the people of Vault 13 and Arroyo. Together and with the assistance of the GECK, they create a prosperous community in the previously struggling Arroyo.

2247: Three members of the Followers of the Apocalypse are captured by a tribe known as the Blackfoot for ransom. One of them uses his knowledge of warfare and tactics to train the tribals in fighting their enemies, earning their respect and leadership of the tribe. The Follower takes the name Caesar and uses the tribe to conquer neighboring tribes, adding his ranks to his own with every victory, eventually uniting dozens of tribes by force and destroying their identities. Caesar's Legion is born.

July 13, 2258: The Lone Wanderer is born, but his mother does not survive the experience.

2274: The NCR expands to the Mojave Wasteland, encountering Mr. House, the ruler of New Vegas, who had recruited three tribes as allies to form the bedrock of the city. The New Vegas treaty is signed, 5% of the power generated by Hoover Dam is sent to New Vegas while the rest is sent back to California.

2277: The Lone Wanderer's father leaves Vault 101, forcing his son to flee for his own safety as he is blamed for complications involving mutant insects entering the Vault as his father left. The 19 year old travels the Capital Wasteland, the ruins of Washington D.C., searching for his father, only to see him killed by the Enclave, who had fled to the east coast after their defeat at the hands of the Chosen One. The Lone Wanderer retrieves a GECK from Vault 87. He assists a faction known as the Brotherhood of Steel, a group whose ancestors were US army deserters, in finishing the life work of his father, Protect Purity, and defeats the Enclave. He also assists a woman known as Moria Brown in writing the Wasteland Survival Guide, a book that is applauded as brilliantly researched and written. Despite the Lone Wanderer only doing research, the young woman states that he was the main author.

On the opposite side of the remains of America, the New California and Caesar's Legion clash in the Mojave Wasteland. The Legion attempts to take Hoover Dam, but the NCR is able to trick them into charging into Boulder City, which was rigged with explosives. The resulting explosion dealt heavy losses to the Legion, forcing them to retreat to the other side of the Colorado River, where they spent years regrouping. Angered at the failure of his men, Caesar orders his Legate to be covered in pitch, set on fire, and thrown into the Great Canyon.

2278: The NCR launches an invasion of Bitter Springs in response to the abduction and execution of soldiers by a local tribe known as the Great Khans. Due to a miscommunication, a group of First Recon snipers fire on a group of children, women and elderly. This is later recalled as the Bitter Springs Massacre.

2281: Conflict breaks out again between the NCR and Caesar's Legion for a second time. Mr. House also hired a courier to deliver a data chip disguised as an ordinary poker chip to him, but the Courier is intercepted and shot in the head twice before she is left for dead in a shallow grave. Over the weeks she makes a full recovery and sets out to hunt down the man that nearly killed her, who turns out to be the leader of the Tops, Benny. She cornered him in his private suite, disarmed him and then shot him five times in the chest with his own handgun. Upon learning of the true nature of the chip, she chose not to deliver it to Mr. House, and when the NCR, whom she had been helping ever since she set out to search for Benny, requested her to kill Mr. House, she complied. The Courier later helped the NCR win the Second Battle of Hoover Dam, where she killed the current Legate in one on one combat, and then Caesar himself, breaking the back of the Legion and forcing them out of the Mojave.

2283: The east coast Brotherhood of Steel signs a treaty with settlements that it has established friendly ties with thanks to the clean water they had been providing with Project Purity. The Washington Confederacy is born. It begins to spread outward, towards the north and the west using technology salvaged from the Enclave and a massive robot known as Liberty Prime to eliminate all hostile forces with ease while signing treaties with non-aggressive settlements.

2286: The NCR pushes eastward, driving the Legion further back. Disorganized with the loss of their leader, the Legion was forced to abandon many strongholds that it had once held and flee to the uncharted lands in the east, raiding small tribes for supplies. However, before long they encountered the rapidly growing Confederacy and were forced to combat their highly trained troops and advanced technology. Eventually, the Legion was trapped in Tennessee, with the Confederacy on one end and the NCR on the other.

The Courier and the Lone Wanderer were both sent on missions to eliminate the remaining leaders of the Legion in the ruins of Nashvile. These missions both proved to be complete successes. While there, they encountered each other and mistook each other for enemies. They fought for hours, first using firearms, but then when their ammunition ran out they fought with knives and eventually engaging in hand to hand combat when their knives broke. After a long and brutal battle in which neither combatant could gain the advantage, they both collapsed, too exhausted to even sit up. With nothing else to do, the two began to talk, learning much about each other and the factions that they were a part of, becoming friendly and realizing their misunderstanding. Eventually NCR and Confederate forces were sent to retrieve them, and make contact with each other for the first time. They later sent negotiation parties to meet each other, forming an alliance.

2289: The last remnants of the Legion are crushed. The NCR and the Confederacy sign the Treaty of Nashvile, which establishes the boarders of both nations, dividing the former United States of America in half.

2290: The Lone Wanderer and the Courier are wed.

_As the years continued to pass, the people of America continued to rebuild. Industry and agriculture were reborn, while lacking the same scale as the Prewar world, it was more than enough to sustain the continent's now smaller population. However, they were not the only ones who had formed their own nations._

2294: A small fleet of ships, a few of them military, dock on the east coast. All of them carry emissaries from nations in Europe and Asia. Accompanying each of the emissaries were individuals that were much like the Lone Wanderer and the Courier, talented and powerful individuals that had shaped the fate of their nations and defeated great enemies. The Liberator originated from the Russian Union, the Champion from the Royal British Empire, the Holy One from the Vatican, the Warrior from the Chinese Alliance and the Defender from the Japanese Federation.

2305: A collaborated census between the nations revealed that the world's population had begun to grow again. While currently low enough to be sustained by Post-War Earth's limited resources, many are worried that history will repeat itself if precautions are not taken. The NCR founds and spearheads an operation known as Project Exodus. Using technology taken from Mr. House along with the most advance technology that the nations had combined with all of the resources that they could spare, the nations begin construction on an interplanetary colony ship, intending for it to be the first of many. The goal of project Exodus is to colonize Mars and establish a heavy industry settlement to provide Earth with resources.

2310: While delivering barrels filled with the strain of FEV that the NCR had started to produce to help develop the population of friendly Super Mutants, a truck breaks down near a Deathclaw nest, exposing several eggs to the mutagen. The eggs were taken to NCR scientists for study, but when they hatched, the Deathclaws showed signs of increased intelligence and even the ability to speak. Bounties were put out for undamaged Deathclaw eggs in order to further this study.

2379: The colony ship, after many years of hard world, scavenging, manufacturing and endless funding, is completed and launched. Military and civilian personal from all of the nations are given seats on it. Later on in the year, the ship lands successfully and unloaded its already developed infrastructure, as well as a terraforming generator. Project Exodus is declared to be a complete success.

2387: The city of New Lowell is founded on Mars.

_In a different time, the new nations of the world might have clutched at each others throats, scrabbling over what little scraps Earth had left to offer. Instead, they worked together to create a brighter future for all of Humanity, believing that future to be on the surface of Mars, but they were misinformed. Not because they were wrong, but because they had no idea how right they were._

2392: While digging an iron mine, several Martian settlers uncover a cache of technology. Alien technology. Reports of this sends officials and scientists back on Earth scurrying, formulated countless theories and explanations. When the relics are shipped back to Earth, they are studied by top scientists, revealing massive stores of data and the name of the creators of the relics, the Protheans.

2409: Countless technological advancements originate from the discovery of the relics, some of them completely replacing Human technology, such as ballistic firearms, computers, starship engines and power sources, some of them hybridizing with currently existing technology, such as robotics and power armor, while a few aspects of Human technology were left untouched, mainly energy weapons with the exception of their power sources. But all of them pale in comparison to the discovery made at the edge of the Solar System thanks to the advanced starships Humanity was now capable of building. A Mass Relay, a device that allowed them to travel across the stars. However, many were paranoid. Despite there being no sign of them, many wondered why the Protheans had a base on Mars, which would be perfect for observing Earth. A large amount of people believed that the Protheans might be hostile and would wipe out Humanity when they realize how advanced they have become. The new nations of Earth decide to unite under a single government as they expand beyond their home system. While each country maintained its sovereignty, the new government would manage Humanity's ventures beyond Earth and represent the values of its people. This government is known only as the Coalition. Mars is also named the capital of the Coalition as terraforming and colonization continues on its surface at an accelerated rate.

_Humanity united, a feat few had thought possible. In many ways, the nuclear holocaust had broken the shackles of nationalism that had held then back for so long. With only a few flags to divide them, a dying homeworld, and a massive gaping unknown standing before them, their differences were forgotten as they stood together, pushing forward in a way that the people of the 20th and 21st centuries had failed to do._

_And for a time, they knew peace and prosperity. For centuries as the Coalition spread across space, careful not to spread themselves too thin, colonizing tightly clustered planets when they could. With peace, Humanity also developed tolerance, for the Coalition could not be considered a true Human government._

_Necro-Humans, or Ghouls, mutants who had been exposed to radiation, made up a significant portion of the population as did Meta-Humans, or Super Mutants, the FEV having been refined to the point where there was no longer a death rate for those exposed to it and to where the intelligence of the average Meta-Human was on par with a Standard-Human. Both of these populations are rather small compared to Standard-Humans, but they are still a significant part of the Coalition and their populations are sustained by people who are voluntarily exposed to FEV for Meta-Humans, or artificial wombs for both. Even the population of intelligence Deathclaws was on the rise, working their ways into all aspects of Coalition life._

_However, while the Coalition did enjoy peace for a time, they would find that the galaxy was similar to the Earth they had left behind in many ways. All aspects of life that they had experienced on it still existed in the new front_ ier.

October 24, 2715: The Coalition discovers the 314 Relay.

_Among them was war..._

October 26, 2715: A Turian patrol fleet encounters several Coalition ships attempting to activate the 314 Relay. The Turians open fire, prompting the present Coalition military vessels to return fire. Three Turian and five Coalition ships are destroyed before the Coalition forces were forced to retreat to the nearby colony of Shanxi.

_And war..._

October 29, 2715: The Turian Hierarchy launches an invasion of Shanxi. The First Contact War begins.

_War never changes._

XXXXX

CODEX UPDATED

ENTRIES ADDED

The Coalition: The Coalition is the government body that rules over most of Humanity, Necro-Human, Meta-Humans, and intelligent Deathclaws, the only exceptions being zones of Earth that have not been annexed, due to high hazard rates and focus slowly but surely being lost on Earth and redirected to Mars and other colonized worlds. Technically the Coalition is an alliance forged between the new nations of Earth, but as the years passed and more and more resources were poured into making Humanity stronger, more power was slowly granted to the Coalition government, giving it more power over its member governments, and when the first shots were traded with the Turians in the First Contact War, the Coalition cemented itself as a government that represented all of Earth as a whole.

The main body of the Coalition government is it's Parliament, elected representatives that pass laws that affect the entire Coalition, while individual cities are ruled by elected governors and a board of advisers. It is worth noting that the original name of the Coalition was intended to be the Coalition of Man, but it was scrapped due to the growing Deathclaw population.

XXXXX

Author's Note: Well, that's the first chapter of From the Ashes, I hope that you enjoyed  


	2. Touchdown

XXXXX

General Desolas Arterius of the Turian Hierarchy allowed himself a sneer. He was standing on the bridge of the dreadnought Vigilant looking at the viewscreen in front of him as a dozen technicians worked at various consoles around him. He stared at the viewscreen in front of him which showed a planet that was being orbited by a dozen warships, frigates and cruisers by the look of them, all of them in battle formation.

He had twenty ships in total at his command, all of which had just exited out of FTL at the coordinates that they had received. Mere days ago, a Turian patrol fleet had discovered an unknown race attempting to activate the 314 Relay. The alien vessels had been able to destroy a handful of their own and actually forced them to return to friendly territory to regroup. He had been given command of a small armada to deal with this new race and to seize control of this colony, the nearest one to the relay, where the alien ships had fled to.

"Sir," a navigator said from his terminal, "the alien vessels are charging their weapons and have raised their kinetic barriers. Our ships will be in range to fire in five minutes. They have made no attempts to raise communications."

"I'm not surprised, most likely they aren't even advanced enough to have translators anyway," he snarled.

"Sir...should we even be doing this?" the navigator asked, turning in his seat to look at Desolas.

"I beg your pardon Ensign?" the General asked, putting emphasis on the Navigator's rank.

"Sir...we're attacking a race for breaking a law they don't even know exists," the navigator said hesitantly, fear present in his voice, "if we attempted to contact them and explain that what happened back at the 314 Relay was simply a misunderstanding then maybe we could forge a truce with these aliens and take an envoy to the Citadel to-"

"Ensign," Desolas said, cutting him off, "did you refer to the actions that the Hierarchy forces took back at the 314 Relay to be a misunderstanding? Are you implying that the Captains there did not thoroughly think their actions through?"

"No sir, I just-"

"And if you believe that what the men did and died for back there was a blunder, by extension you are questioning my judgement here for attacking this planet. Is that what you are doing?"

"No, I just-"

"I can't help but wonder exactly how much you have been spending among other species, because you are certainly not behaving like a Turian. When something presents itself as a threat, an unmistakable threat, the galaxy relies on us to deal with it. These aliens are clumsy, careless creatures, who tried to activate a Mass Relay, despite not having any idea where it went, or what was on the other side. This isn't a matter of Council law, it's a matter of common sense. Now then are you going to do your duty or do I have to relieve you?"

Almost shrinking away, the navigator turned back to his terminal without another work, raising his talons as he began to type again. "I'm glad that we understand each other," Desolas said "leave trying to make friends with anything that posses intelligence to the Asari. Now then, order all forward ships to target their cruisers from a distance, all secondary ships are to hold fire until they attempt to move their frigates into knife fight range. Once they do, they are weapons free."

"Understood," said a second navigator. "I am picking up a high amount of communication between the ships in orbit and the alien forces on the planet's surface. From what I can make out they have a rather large amount of ground forces that are digging in. There are easily tens of thousands of soldiers present, possibly more."

"Are they?" Desolas said, sounding interested, "I must say I'm surprised, this colony appears to be rather small, I was expecting nothing more than a token garrison." He frowned, "It could very well mean that we have discovered a race as militaristic as ourselves or, Spirits help us, the Krogan."

"Should I give the order to bombard all military locations once the enemy fleet is eliminated?"

"No, if they are that many in number then the last thing we want is all of them to scatter. The second we drop a single rock, they'll all disappear into the wilderness of the planet. When we move to occupy the planet, the guerrilla warfare would last for years. I want to deal with this threat in its infancy. So long as these people think they have a chance at victory, they will stand and fight. When they route, our men will pursue and slaughter them. Give the order, we are to punch a hole in the enemy's defense and then launch our entire invasion force and take the colony."

"What if the aliens bombard the colony from orbit to kill our men?"

"The colony is comprised of a single city, they would not dare destroy the only value that this planet has to them," Desolas replied. "I will be taking part in the ground offensive, I lead my men from the front." He turned and faced the exit "You have the bridge," he said before leaving. As he walked down a corridor to the elevator, he spotted a Turian in combat armor with his back to the wall. "Saren, what are you doing here?" Desolas asked, sounding annoyed.

"I was just about to ask you what your orders were," Saren said, a grin covering his face, "but I happened to overhear you. So, we're going with a full out ground assault?"

"Yes," Desolas grunted, "and you will be making up the rear unit, I want you guarding our HQ."

"It's against Hierarchy law to show special attention to family you know," Saren pointed out as he fell into step with his older brother, "also I don't appreciate being stuck with a nice and safe position far away from the front lines. I'm a soldier, just like you."

"You're naive if you honestly believe that's why I'm putting you there," Desolas said as they reached the elevator, pushing the button and causing the door to open as he continued to talk. "You've only been an active member of the military for a single year, you're only seventeen years old. Our enemy is unknown, the few bodies that we were able to recover from the earlier skirmish were unidentifiable and we did not have time to analyze them properly. The veteran soldiers will go in first while the inexperienced ones stay in back to provide support fire and backup."

"Inexperienced soldiers...exactly how many inexperienced soldiers do we have?" Saren asked as the elevator doors closed and it began to descend.

"To be honest, a few more than I would have preferred. This task force was cobbled together in a hurry, High Command wanted to launch an attack on these aliens as fast as they could, meaning some less than stellar soldiers got mixed into the throng."

"We're fighting an enemy we know nothing about and they gave you platoons of rookie soldiers? That's just plain idiotic."

The ghost of a smile spread across Desolas' face. "Are you telling me that you should not be taking part in this mission then?" he asked teasingly.

"I'm not a normal grunt," Saren said defensively, "how many other Turians are put on active duty at my age?"

"More than you think," Desolas said teasingly.

"Out of all of them how many are recommended for Spectre training?" Saren growled. "So, what is the battle plan?

"The most common tactic employed by defensive land forces in battles where orbital ordinance is involved is to hide out in nearby forests, caves and wherever else shelter can be found. Our main goal is to take the city, but while doing so we must also destroy the top of their chain of command, for if they retreat but maintain order they can organize a counterattack, even after we weaken their forces. We will identify the enemy's main HQ and cripple them in one fell swoop. Afterwards we will spread out and eliminate any pockets of enemy resistance."

The elevator slowed to a halt and slid open, revealing the dreadnought's hanger. Dozens of dropships were being loaded with troops, weapons, and supplies. Light scouting vehicles were being prepared on other ships for low orbital drops onto the planets surface. "We deploy in three minutes!" Desolas shouted to the various Turians that filled the hanger, prompting them to double their pace. "Get to your unit, I'll see if I can find any use for it once we deploy," he said to Saren.

"Yes sir," Saren said, taking a combat helmet off of his back and sliding it over his head before heading to one of the drop ships.

"Oh, and by the way Saren," he said to his younger brother, prompting him to turn around. "Spectre training huh? For the record, I'd think you'd be a good one."

Saren smiled. "Thank you brother."

XXXXX

Brigadier General Williams had been asleep when the alarm had gone off. He had received reports that Coalition forces had encountered aliens at the Shanxi Relay and had been ordered to prepare for a possible attack, putting the entire colony on red alert. Vertibirds were on standby, gun emplacements had been set up, and local militias had been organized. The Coalition had rather light gun control laws, allowing citizens to own even automatic weapons and combat armor, only drawing the line at energy weapons and power armor, so their forces could be bolstered by civilians providing support, but hopefully it wouldn't come to that.

Throwing his covers back, he sprung out of the small cot that he was sleeping in, still wearing his combat armor and uniform over it. The uniform was a dark navy blue dress uniform, the standard issue uniform for all light infantry on Shanxi. His hands flying to make sure that his submachine gun and officer's longsword was still in place, he bolted through the command center that he was in, eventually dashing into a war room, where five other officers, two of them Necro-Humans, were gathered around a holographic map of Shanxi.

"What's the situation?" Williams asked, screeching to a halt and panting heavily.

"Nearly twenty five alien ships entered the system a few minutes ago," one of the officers reported, "scans match the ones that were encountered at the relay. They've deployed dropships which are entering the atmosphere as we speak. What is more sir, reports confirm that the aliens have a dreadnought."

Williams swore under his breath, "Where's Vice-Admiral Marcus? I thought that he had been deployed to reinforce our position here. We're right next to where we were attacked for the first time by an unknown species!"

"He was sir, but mobilization took time and even then there is quite a distance that he has to travel. He will not arrive until later today."

"Great," Williams hissed through grit teeth, "I guess we just need to hold out until then, outnumbered and outgunned. Where are the dropships landing?"

"On the outskirts of the city, it appears that they also deployed a mobile command center that is acting as their hub of operations."

"All right, we'll have to leave the battle in space to Commodore Geary and Admiral Marcus once the son of a bitch feels courteous enough to show up! As of the moment, we have two objectives, holding the city and taking out the enemy's HQ, but the second one will have to wait. Send out a priority signal to all Coalition forces, I want lines of defense formed to halt the alien offensive, give them any intelligence that our birds and satellites can get. I don't want any alien forces reaching the main residential areas, have all infantry hold down choke points and give Deathclaws the order to flank and ambush were possible. If all else fails, tell them to do whatever they can to stop those bastards in their tracks! We were given the job of defending this city and so help me God we're going to do it!"

"Yes sir!" all of the officers said before four of them began to relay the information immediately, while one of the Necro-Humans continued to study the map. "They're moving slowly," she remarked, looking up at Williams, "They may be cautious about fighting an enemy that they do not understand yet. If we're lucky enough we may have enough time to dig in and-" the officer was cut off as an explosion rocked the base, causing them all to stumble.

"What the Hell was that?" Williams shouted.

"Missile!" the officer shouted, her eyes scanning the map. "Three alien gunships are advancing on us rapidly! They look like scouts!"

"Radio the vertibirds, tell them that we've got bogies back at the base and-"

"There's no need sir, they're already on their way." This was very true, even as the officer spoke, two vertibirds sped towards the alien gunships, which had began to fall back after their strafing run. Each vertibird fired a burst of gatling laser at the alien dropships hitting two of them. The kinetic barriers offered no resistance to the lasers and they impacted on the hull of the gunships. One had its entire left wing burned off and began to spiral downward where it crashed, while the other had the majority of its forward armor melted off.

Two missiles flew from each alien gunship and smashed into the same vertibird. The VTOL lurched violently as its kinetic barriers fell and its engine began to smoke. Undeterred, both vertibirds fired another burst of focused light at the gunships. One hit the damaged dropship in the area where its armor had been weakened, while the other one was hit in the engine. Both of them exploded in a ball of fire.

"All alien gunships neutralized," the officer reported, looking up at Williams, "it seemed like they weren't expecting us to use energy weapons, they went down without a fight."

"Then we shouldn't hesitate to use that to our advantage, send the word out to everyone, heavy infantry up front, have light infantry provide supporting fire. We need-" he was cut off as a voice split his ears.

"This is vertibird g-87, a hostile gunship that crashed was carrying a full load of troopers and they are now on the ground, I repeat, there is a squad of hostiles on the ground near HQ!" the voice of a pilot roared over the COM lines. Before he could give an order, the wall on the far side of the war room was torn apart by an explosion, allowing sunlight to leak in. Straining his eyes, he saw four figures charge through the hole, weapons blazing.

Two of the officers were killed within seconds as the other ones drew pistols and submachine guns, returning fire at the alien forces. Williams himself aimed his own SMG at the front most alien, firing three bursts and causing the creature to fall to the ground.

Williams flinched as a bullet tore through the head of another officer right next to him, his kinetic barriers having been dropped by a barrage of bullets to the chest. A streak of bullets flew past the General as he dove behind the holographic display, the remaining two Necro-Human officers taking cover behind a nearby table. The female one leaned up over the table, taking aim at one of the three aliens, but was only able to get a single shot off from her pistol before a hail of bullets from all of them forced her down.

One of the aliens gestured to the other two and they slowly began to advance, weapons at the ready. Williams was racking his brains for a plan when a green cylinder flew threw the air and landed in front of the aliens. They spotted it and attempted to dive out of the way, but they were too late. The cylinder exploded in a blinding ball of green energy, tearing through the kinetic barriers of all three of the aliens, reducing one to a green pile of goo and causing the lifeless body of a second to hit the wall. The surviving one hissed in pain as burns tore through his body. He attempted to get to his feet, but as he did he saw the barrel of a shotgun leveled in front of his face. That was the last thing that he saw before a dozen pellets tore into his mind.

Glancing out from behind cover, Williams saw a man in pitch black combat armor with a brown dust coat. The man's face was covered by a gas mask with glowing red optics and a helmet on his head, it having been riveted to the gas mask. Williams instantly recognized the man as a Coalition Ranger, and was even able to recognize the specific person. "Thanks Charon," Williams said, as he and the other officers got up from behind cover, "bit of a sticky situation there."

"Don't mention it," the Necro-Human said, removing his gas mask and revealing his bright, red, mutated face. "Just doing my job sir." He gave a dry chuckle, "I did think that that job was just to patrol underdeveloped colonies and weed out trouble makers though, wasn't expecting aliens." He glanced at one of the creatures, noting that it had a scaly hide and a pair of mandibles, as well as tattoo markings on its face. "So...you think that these are Protheans?"

"Hard to say," Williams remarked, "though I don't think so. These don't really strike me as a 50,000 year old empire, if they were, they would've been able to spare a bigger fleet. One thing's for certain though, whatever these things are, they mean business. They're no amateurs, these four were expertly trained, damn good shots and lightening reflexes. They're professionals."

"Then I guess we should stop standing around and actually get some work done huh?" Charon asked, a small dry grin flitting onto his face. "If the kid were here he'd would be out there fighting right now. I think that we should do the same."

Williams was about to answer when a red light flashed on the holographic table. "The aliens are starting to push into the city!" the Necro-Human officer reported as she stood over the table, "our forward most defensive lines are already starting to buckle!"

"Son of a-radio everyone in the area, tell them to reinforce our defenders! Charon, you're with me, we're going to give them support!" The Ranger nodded as he slid his helmet back on before following Williams to the exit.

XXXXX

1st Lieutenant Hannah Shepard felt her stomach lurch as a solid metal slug from an alien vessel smashed into the cruiser that she was on, the Blazing Sunrise. Recovering her balance, her fingers flew over the terminal in front of her, causing the ship to veer to the left. "Status report!" the Captain of the vessel shouted.

Hannah's head snapped to look at the superior officer. The Lieutenant had light brown hair that was tied up in a bun and she was wearing the same navy blue dress uniform that the light infantry of Shanxi wore. "Shields are weakening, they're barely holding at 67%. Another hit or two and we're goners!" Hannah shouted. As if to emphasize her point, a round tore through the empty void of space and smashed into a nearby cruiser, reducing it to a ball of fire.

"Damn it!" the Captain swore, "how are we supposed to fight these ones of bitches when they have a dreadnought and we don't have any of our specialist ships?"

"Ma'am, I'm reading a pack of alien frigates closing in on our position, three to be exact. It looks like they're going to try and finish us off."

"Cocky sons of bitches aren't they?" the Captain growled. "Target the lead ship with everything that we've got, that includes GUARDIAN lasers and disruptor torpedoes, but hold fire."

"Ma'am? You...you want us to hold fire?"

The Captain nodded grimly. "We're in a bad place here Lieutenant, if we fire now we might do some damage but they'll break off their attack and then they'll be out of range of our torpedoes. We need to let them get closer before we open fire. Wait until they're in knife fight range."

"Ma'am, this ship has already taken a beating, I'm not sure how much more abuse that we can take!"

"I know Lieutenant, but we don't have a whole lot of choice here. We need to actually do some damage to these sons of bitches if we're going to have a ghost of a chance of lasting until reinforcements arrive."

Hannah was about to open her mouth, but instead turned back to her console, hastily typing in commands. "Everything is primed and ready, and the frigates are almost in knife fight range...scratch that they're in range now, they're firing-" Hannah was cut off as the cruiser rocked again as it was bombarded by GUARDIAN lasers and slugs. The mass accelerators of frigates were nowhere near as powerful as the ones that cruisers possessed, in fact in a one on one fight a cruiser would almost always beat a frigate, but there was strength in numbers.

"Shields down to 12%!" Hannah shouted as the three frigates spun and began to head back towards the rest of the alien fleet.

"Target the center one! Everything!" No sooner had the Captain spoken then the main cannon of the Blazing Sunrise shuddered, sending a massive slug at the center ship, following it up with a volley of lasers and a disruptor torpedo. The frigate was still close enough so that the torpedo only had a small amount of distance to travel, and with its defenses weakened by the earlier assault, the projectile detonated on its hull was enough to engulf the enemy starship in fire.

"Well...that's all I got," the Captain growled, "those damn things will round about and finish us off and I'm not so sure that we'll be lucky to get another one. Anyone got any ideas?"

"Captain," Hannah said slowly, "I think I may have one. This ship has a nuclear missile on board right?"

"It's standard issue for anything heavier than a frigate why do you ask? Shooting at those bastards won't work, either they'll be too far away and they'll be able to pick it off with a well placed laser, or it'll be too close and we'll blow ourselves up."

"But they don't know that we have one," Hannah pointed out. "And they're going to have to come back into close range to finish us off. If we detonate the nuke at just the right time we can take both of those ships out."

"And we all die in the process?"

"No, I can wire the detonator on the nuke to my omni-tool. We can use the escape pods to get down to the planet's surface and get out of harms way. I can detonate the thing from a distance and take out both frigates."

"Are you suggesting that we scuttle this ship?"

"Ma'am...its going down no matter what we do," Hannah said softly.

A second of silence passed before the Captain slowly lifted her hand to her COM unit. "All hands this is the Captain...abandon ship. Get to your designated escape pods, leave everything behind." Lowering her hand, she looked at Hannah. "I hope that this works."

Out in the vacuum of space, the frigates spun again and began to speed back to the Blazing Sunrise. As they neared, their scanners picked up several escape pods being launched, heading towards the planet's surface. They ignored them, it was more than likely that non-essential personal were being evacuated to minimize casualties.

They closed on the ship, their weapons locking on, when all of a sudden the Blazing Sunrise exploded violently. The force of the nuclear explosion tore away at the alien vessels, their kinetic barriers failing to protect them from the overwhelming force of the explosion and the radiation. The hull of the ships were stripped away like flesh from bone, leaving two lifeless husks floating above Shanxi

From her escape pod, Hannah looked up at the disabled vessels. "All hands lost, definitely," she muttered, a small smile on her face. "That's definitely a victory, even if it is a tiny one." Even as she continued to smile, she reached down to her side for her submachine gun. Every last person in the Coalition armed forces, no matter their position, had training in combat. Just because their ship had been destroyed, the crew of the Blazing Sunrise were not done fighting. They would move to the ground and assist in the fighting there.

As she grabbed the weapon, she accidentally knocked a photograph out of her pocket. Bending down to pick it up, she caught a glimpse of it in the light generated by the escape pod. It was of her, sitting right next to a rather wiry man with dark black hair. Both of them were bouncing a baby on their knees and waving to the camera, the expression caused by the babies' squeals of joy captured by the picture. "Albert...John...Jane," Hannah whispered sadly, tracing her finger over the faces of her husband and twin children. As she did, something tensed inside of her, caused her to grit her teeth. "I'll be home soon," she whispered in a determined voice, slipping the photo back into her pocket and flipping the safety off of her SMG as the pod continued to fall to the surface of the planet.

XXXXX

CODEX UPDATED

ENTRIES ADDED

Coalition Light Infantry: The light infantry makes up the backbone of the Coalition's military force. Comprised of standard and Necro-Humans, light infantry are all issued top of the line firearms and a lightweight suit of combat armor with kinetic barriers. However, unlike most galactic armies, apart from the armor, the light infantry does not have a universal uniform. In order to create a feeling of uniqueness and to feel that they were more than a universal army answering to an all powerful government with no individuality of their own, the forces of separate planets, and in some cases separate continents and cities, added to their armor, or even began to wear their own unique uniforms over it. Examples include dust coats, suits and ties, winter combat gear, and many others.

This has become an internal part of the Coalition military. When a person is put on active duty for the first time, they are issued the uniform of the planet/city/regiment, and keep that uniform for the rest of their service, baring that it becomes too badly damage. If this is the case, said trooper will have his uniform replaced by the uniform of the unit that he is in. This leads to much diversity in the Coalition military. It is also worth noting that most uniforms prefer to cover the face in some way, weather it be via helmet, face wrappings, or bandanna.

Coalition Officers: Officers in the Coalition are ranked in the same manner that many Pre-War militarizes did, using the ranks Lieutenant, Major, Captain, Colonel, etc. What is very different is that the Coalition's fighting style has been very heavily based off of centuries of fighting on post-war Earth. In other words, officers are commonly in the thick of battle alongside their men. They are, however, promoted on leadership ability and not combat skill. While on average officers have higher skill levels than front line soldiers due to longer service records, some officers fall below average while some front line soldiers are more deadly than most officers. It is worth noting that most officers prefer submachine guns as weapons, although they have been known to use other types of firearms.

Coalition Rangers: The evolution of the NCR Rangers, the Coalition Rangers are the Coalition's finest Special Operations division. In many ways it is the fully realized form of its predecessor. It follows the same recruitment and training process of its NCR, particularly talented Standard, Necro and Meta-Humans and Deathclaws and recruited into the program and given several years of intense training. Where it differs is that the Coalition Rangers receive far superior weaponry. Their armor is equipped with the strongest kinetic barriers that the Coalition can manufacture for combat armor, their standard issue guns are of the highest quality and cost hundreds of thousands of credits each, and they are given access to experimental weapons and equipment. They are considered some of the deadliest soldiers in the Coalition, and are deployed to handle situations that are considered too dangerous for normal soldiers.

XXXXX

Author's Note: Before anyone says anything about Saren, when the First Contact War rolled around he was only seventeen and he had only been in the military for that long, so if he took part in that war, that's how old and experienced he was. Also before anyone comments on Saren's character, this isn't Spectre Saren who lost his brother to the Humans, this is 17 years old Saren. Keep that in mind

Also the Coalition light infantry were heavily based off of (read ripped off) the 40k Imperial Guard. The point of them is to convey the sheer diversity and crazy outfit vibes that Fallout gave out.


	3. Heavy Weapons

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like I said before, I wrote this nearly a decade ago. The quality might be lower than my more recent works.

Williams instinctively ducked his head slightly as a few shots flew over him. Both he and Charon were in a park at the center of the city, taking cover behind a fountain that was shooting jets of sparkling water into the air, even as soldiers all over the park opened fire on the advancing aliens. Williams did a quick scan of the area. There seemed to be a couple dozen light infantrymen scattered throughout the park, trading fire with aliens, who were dug in on the far side. Things didn't seem to be going very well for the Coalition, more than a couple lifeless bodies were lying on the ground, pools of bright crimson blood still forming around them.

"Hey!" Williams shouted, slowly working his way towards a soldier who was ducking behind a shattered statue. "General Williams! Status report!"

"We got hit about five minutes ago, we think this is the alien's main spearhead!" the soldier shouted, poking his rifle out over the statue and blind firing a couple of shots. "These bastards are pushing real damn hard, we're doing our best to hold them here, but we're getting reports from all over the city of skirmish fighting. We think that they're trying to hit us everywhere at once."

"So why focus so many men here?" Charon asked, pulling a plasma grenade from his belt and throwing it as hard as he could over the fountain. There was a deafening bang and a cry of agony and it was safe to say that the grenade had killed at least one alien.

"It's the most direct route to our main HQ," Williams said, understanding flooding his face. "They must be trying to cut directly through the city to hit us there."

"And the skirmishers?" Charon asked.

"Divide and conquer, either we take forces away from our defenses here to deal with them and their main force has an easier time breaking through, or we focus more men here and their scouts can wreck havoc across the city."

"These guys don't screw around."

"Are there any reinforcements in the area?" Williams asked, looking at the soldier again.

"Not sure!" he shouted, "I've been radioing in non-stop. I caught a transmission from a heavy trooper squad a couple of minutes ago. Said that they were on their way but I lost contact. I'm not sure if they even still-" the soldier was cut off as a rocket smashed into the statue that he was taking cover behind. The force of the explosion shattered the flimsy cover and threw the soldier back into the ground, his neck broken.

"Son of a bitch," Williams hissed popping up from behind the fountain and spraying shots at the aliens. Charon stood up at the same time, firing three blasts from his shotgun. Between the two of them, they were actually able to bring down an alien soldier that had stuck its head out for too long, but within seconds a tide of bullets forced them to take cover again.

"If you've got any clever last second ideas, now would be a good time!" Charon shouted.

"I'm thinking!" Williams snapped, attempting to rise up and fire again, only to have burst of bullets keep him down. "Fuck!" he swore. He had ordered that the vertibirds remain back at HQ in case the aliens attempted to make another raid. He was beginning to sorely regret that decision, a gunship flying overhead and raining death down on the solid line of aliens in front of him would be a sight for sore eyes.

Just as Williams was beginning to panic, a shriek reached his ears. "ERAGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Snapping his neck to look at the source of the noise, he saw a massive Meta-Human charging into the park from the right, holding a gatling laser in his hands. Letting out another roar, the Meta-Human opened fire on the surprised aliens from the right. The lasers phased through their kinetic barriers as if they didn't even exist, impacting on their armor and flesh, burning and melting away everything that they hit. Within seconds, a dozen aliens collapsed to the ground, massive burns covering them and a couple even reduced to ashes.

Before the aliens could recover from the assault, a dozen other soldiers appeared behind the Meta-Human, a couple of them also Meta-Humans but the majority of them Standard and Necro-Humans in power armor. They all raised their weapons and opened fire on the aliens. A few of them had gatling guns but most of them were using laser and plasma rifles, which completely devastated the aliens, littering the ground with their corpses.

After thirty seconds of this, the aliens completely abandoned their positions, running as fast as they possibly could away from the Coalition defensive positions. The light infantry men stood up and fired a volley after them as the reinforcements kept up their assault. The combined assault managed to bring down a few more troopers before they vanished from sight into the labyrinth of buildings that began at the edge of the park.

"NEXT TIME, PUT UP A FIGHT!" the massive Meta-Human roared in the direction that the aliens had fled.

"Coalition heavy infantry," Williams said, standing up alongside Charon, "never thought I'd be so happy to see them." A smile spread across his face as he looked at the reinforcements. The massive Meta-Human, who Williams now noticed had yellow skin as opposed to the green or blue skin that he usually saw on Meta-Humans, turned and began to walk towards them.

"I am pleased to see that you are all right," he said, stopping in front of Charon and Williams, the gray metallic armor that covered all of his body from the neck down. "It sounded bad on the radio, I feared the worst."

Charon chuckled. "We're not going to die that easily Fawkes. You, the kid and I have got into plenty of situations a lot harrier than that."

Fawkes let out a low rumbling laugh. "You are right friend, and he would always look danger in the face with a smile." He turned his head to look at Williams. "General, my squad is at your command. Give us an order, and we will obey."

"Ok," Williams said, looking at the bodies that covered the park, Coalition and alien. "We managed to catch them off guard, our energy weapons really did a number on them. Now's the perfect opportunity to strike back, now that their main force has been shattered. If we wait too long though, they'll get a chance to regroup."

He put his hand to his ear. "Williams to HQ, come in HQ."

"Yes sir?" a raspy female voice said over the COM lines.

"Do we have any mechanized infantry units anywhere near the enemy's base of operations?"

"Three sentry bots were patrolling the area then they dropped in. They have not been detected yet."

"Good, I want them to make a scouting run on the enemy base. I want a live feed of everything being sent back to you, and afterwards I want a full report of what we're up against. Order those machines to keep their distance though, I'd prefer it if these bastards didn't know that we were spying on them. They are only permitted to open fire if they are fired upon."

"Understood," the woman said as the line was disconnected.

"So what's the plan?" Charon asked.

"We've got them on the run, we need to hit fast and hard," Williams replied, looking at the Necro-Human. "If we take all of the men that we have here and have other soldiers scattered throughout the city link up with us, call in a couple of gunships, then we just might have enough muscle to take them out and kick their scaly asses off of our planet."

"I like this plan," Fawkes said, "let us show them how foolish they were to pick a fight with the Coalition."

"Got it," Williams said as he put his hand to his COM unit, preparing to call for reinforcements.

XXXXX

Hannah grit her teeth as her escape pod smashed into the soil of Shanxi, rattling her teeth as it did. Groaning slightly she pressed a button, causing the door to the pod to slide open. From what she could see, she was on the outskirts of the city, a couple of farms weren't that far away and she seemed to have just missed landing on the road leading towards the nearby urban jungle.

Climbing out of the pod, she hit the ground with a dull thud, SMG in hand. She paused for a second, her eyes scanning the area, looking for any kind of life. Then, out of the corner of her eye, she spotted something that made her swear. In the distance along the perimeter of the city, she could spot a metal structure that didn't look like it had been designed by the Coalition. In other words, it was the alien's ground HQ.

"They'll have seen the pod," she whispered to herself, "I'm dead meat if I stay out here." Hannah was going over what her next move should be when gunshots reached her ears. Turning to face the source, she saw that they were coming from within the city. "Unless these things like shooting in the air, they're fighting someone in there," Hannah said, and without another word she took off, running as fast as her feet would carry her.

She had not landed very far from the city and within seconds she found herself running through an alleyway towards the noises, which were growing louder with each step. Hannah slowed her pace as she gently crouched down, taking great care to be silent. Easing her way forward she reached the end of the alley that she was in. Pressing herself up against a metal wall, she peeked around a corner.

She looked out onto a street filled with cars that were strewn randomly across the street, most likely abandoned when the evacuation had been ordered. Most of the civilians, those that weren't part of the voluntary militia anyway, were taking shelter within bunkers or Coalition controlled checkpoints, having been ordered there ever since the aliens had first appeared at the Shanxi Relay. At once, she spotted five alien ground troops standing behind a truck, firing their weapons at three overturned cars without stop.

It didn't take a master strategist for Hannah to conclude that there were Coalition troopers taking cover behind that, but still she couldn't help but wonder why they were making no effort to return fire. Her question was answered when a particularly loud bang rang out and a militia member in civilian clothing who had popped out of cover with a pistol collapsed limply to the ground.

Looking up, Hannah saw a sixth alien crouching on the balcony of a two story building, a sniper rifle in its hands. "They're pinned," Hannah whispered, "but they don't know that I'm here yet." Reaching down to her waist, she grabbed the only other weapon that she had besides her SMG and a simple combat knife, a lone grenade.

Glancing up at the balcony, she raised the grenade over her head and, with a slight grunt, hurled it at the sniper. The explosive was impact sensitive, and the sniper barely had time to register something hitting him in the shoulder before it detonated. As the blast consume the balcony, the other aliens instinctively looked up just in time to see their comrade falling to the ground.

Not hesitating, Hannah leaned out of cover and jammed her finger down on her SMG. A swarm of bullets consumed the nearest alien soldier, causing him to collapse to the ground. Hannah hissed under her breath as she dove back into cover, a hailstorm of shots narrowly missing her as she did and a couple even nicking her shields.

She held her breath as the shots continued to whiz past, waiting for an opening. Then, for the briefest of moments, the shots stopped. Assuming that the alien's weapons had overheated, Hannah spun out of cover and aimed her SMG again. She barely had time to blink before the butt of a rifle had smashed into her face, forcing her to slam against the far ally wall, her SMG flying out of her hand.

Stars swimming in front of her, she saw an alien trooper rearranging its gun to aim it at her. Apparently it had crept up the side of the building while its squad mates had suppressed her. Without thinking, she threw herself at it, hitting it head on with her shoulder and forcing him against a wall. She saw the alien attempting to raise its rifle and grabbed it by the center, jerking it up as the trigger was pulled, causing countless shots to fire harmlessly into the air.

The alien changed tactics, releasing its grip on the rifle, it swiped at Hannah with both arms. She narrowly sidestepped the first blow, but the second tore across her right cheek, three clawed talons cutting deeply into her flesh. Hissing in pain, Hannah's hands scrambled for her knife, drawing it hastily as the alien advanced on her, narrowly ducking another blow.

Taking the weapon in both hands, the officer charged at the alien, thrusting the weapon at it's throat. There was a satisfying wet squelch as the knife was buried up to its hilt in the gap between the alien's armor plates, purple blood leaking out. Pulling the knife out with a grunt, Hannah turned and felt her stomach sink as she saw the remaining three aliens aiming their weapons at her. However, before any of them could act, shots rang out and a storm of gunfire tore through the remaining aliens, killing them all.

Hannah blinked in surprise and peeked out of the ally, looking to her right. Around ten men were climbing out from behind cover. Most of them were wearing civilian clothing, but three of them were light infantrymen. Actually that didn't quite do them justice. Their armor was pure white and covered their entire bodies, and bright golden crucifixes had been painted on their arms, helmets, chests and backs.

"Thanks for the assist," Hannah panted, spotting her SMG and picking it up.

"Nonsense," the lead infantryman said, approaching her with a shotgun in one hand, "we were pinned down by that sniper, it claimed the lives of two of my brothers and sisters as well as one of the militia. We couldn't touch him, yet you were able to defeat him." He bowed slightly, "we are in your debt."

"Thanks," Hannah said hesitantly, "where are you form? I've never seen armor like that before."

"We are from the Vatican, I am not surprised that you haven't heard of us, we're few in number." In respect, the man reached up and pulled off his helmet, revealing graying hair and a face with wrinkles around the edge, but a warm smile. "I am Adam Archibald Anderson, priest of the New Holy Catholic Church, Left Hand commando of the Vatican, and member of the Coalition light infantry, as are my brothers and sisters."

"Adam Archibald Anderson...you're showing off with that name aren't you? And the titles."

Adam chuckled, "A little bit."

"So, what brings you all the way out here to the frontier? You're a long way from Earth, though I can't exactly blame you for wanting to get off of that shit hole." Hannah shook her head. "I can't believe that 2 billion people still live on that thing."

"For many it is home," Adam said warmly, "as for why I am out here, me and many of my brothers and sisters were sent here to serve as part of the local defense. In these newer colonies, light infantry are usually called in from inner territories to provide protection until they have enough men in their original units to hold their own."

"Wouldn't know that, I'm navy."

"You are? What are you doing down here then?"

"My cruiser took some heavy fire, we had to scuttle it. We managed to take out a couple of frigates in the process, but I don't think that the orbital battle is going very well."

"Worrying about that will accomplish nothing, we are in no position to do anything about it and nerves will only harm our performance down here."

"Don't go all preacher on me, I'm not losing my marbles," Hannah said, smirking slightly. "Hold on, I'm gonna check in with the COM lines, see if there's anywhere that we're needed."

"That may be for the best," Adam said, putting his helmet back on as Hannah put her finger to her ear, "we were tasked with holding this position, but I have a feeling that those forces we just dispatched were the only ones in the area. Our numbers will most likely be more useful elsewhere."

Hannah nodded as a gruff voice filled her ears. "To all available Coalition forces, this is General Williams. I need you to listen closely to my instructions."

XXXXX

"What do you mean you retreated?" Desolas growled. He was standing in the middle of a mobile firebase that had been dropped onto the alien planet, standing in the middle of an armory with his finger to his ear.

"Sir, they managed to flank us," a Turian soldier said over the radio "we took heavy casualties, we had no chose but to retreat, if we didn't-"

"I understand that, that is not what I am angry about," Desolas hissed. "Even Hierarchy soldiers find themselves in situations where they are forced to retreat, that is understandable. What infuriates me is the way in which you retreated, which from the way that you describe it sounds like you ran like a disorganized mob! We are the finest military force in the Council Sergeant! We do not turn our backs to the enemy and run! We fall back in a controlled pattern, laying down covering fire and traps as we do! I expected better from you!"

"Sir you don't understand, the things that attacked us from the side, they...they weren't the same as the aliens."

"What are you talking about?"

"They...they were twice as big as the aliens, they were the size of Elcor! They had massive weapons that tore us to shreds too and...and they weren't standard weapons. They went right through our kinetic barriers, they...oh Spirits help us."

"What kind of weapons where they?" Desolas demanded

"They...sir, I have no idea how, but somehow these aliens have handheld energy weapons."

"What?!" the General shouted, "how is that possible? Not even the Salarian's finest minds have been able to create technology of that caliber. Are you saying that these newcomers have been able to do what none of us could do for centuries?"

"I...yes sir," the soldier stuttered. "What's more those creatures...they weren't the same species as these aliens, it's just impossible. Sir...I think that we may be fighting an alliance of more than one race." Desolas did not reply, merely staring at a rack of assault rifles. "Sir?"

"Very well," he said, his voice growing softer. "Get your men back here, we need to regroup. I will expect a full report on what you saw when you get here."

"Yes sir!" the Sergeant exclaimed as the line died.

"What's going on?" Desolas turned his head to see Saren approaching him, assault rifle in hand.

"The main offensive failed," Desolas grumbled, as he began to walk forward, exiting the base through a nearby open door, Saren right behind him. "The aliens were able to break it with a flanking maneuver. What's more, I have received some disturbing news about our enemy. It appears that we are not fighting a single race, and our foes posses incredibly advanced technology." He gave a sigh as he came to a stop, looking out at the alien city. "It appears that I may have underestimated these newcomers."

"What will we do?"

"For now, we will regroup and weigh our options, go on the defense, so to speak. If the worse should come, we may have to retreat back into orbit and bomb this planet into submission. I would prefer not to, it may provoke our enemy into brutal counter-attacks, and the longer we wait here the more likely it is that reinforcements-"

"What is that?" Saren shouted, raising a hand and pointing in the distance. His shout prompted all nearby soldiers, around fifteen in total, to stop where they were and stare. Three black shapes were barely visible in the distance, apparently stationary.

"They could be alien soldiers from those escape pods that landed around here not too long ago," Desolas muttered. "You!" he shouted, looking at a Turian with a sniper rifle, "take them out." The soldier nodded, dropping to a kneeling position and raising his scope to eye level. As he lined up the shot, he let out a cry of surprise and fired his rifle.

"What is it?" Desolas demanded.

"They're not aliens!" the sniper shouted, looking at the General, "they're-" he was cut off as a stream of bullets tore into him, ripping him to shreds. Desolas turned and suppressed a yelp at what he saw. The three figures were closing in fast, at a speed that had already put them in firing range. "FIRE! FIRE!" Desolas shouted, and all of the nearby soldiers did just that, one soldier on a second floor catwalk manning a mounted machine-gun.

The figures continued to speed forward, even as bullets slammed into them. They raised their arms and returned fire, bullets and lasers sweeping through the Turians, easily killing five of them. The Turian on the mounted machine-gun managed to catch a bead on one of the attackers and pulled down on the trigger. The heavy caliber shots drilled massive holes in their target, causing it to fall over and lie motionless.

He swerved the machine-gun around and was about to fire again when he saw a missile flying towards him. Desperately, he threw himself over the railing, barely avoiding the ball of fire that erupted behind him as the projectile hit the base.

Desolas was gritting his mandibles in frustration when he saw a rocket launcher lying next to a fallen solder. Dropping his rifle, he dove for the weapons, hastily grabbing it and aiming at one of the figures. He pulled the trigger and a rocket shot out of the end, slamming into the nearest attacker and exploding. Lowering the weapon, he saw that the missile had blown off the figure's upper torso.

Before he could so much as smile, the last figure turned to face him and charged in his direction, firing bullets and lasers at him. Desperately Desolas threw himself to the side, avoiding the wave of projectiles. The attacker did not hesitate though, continuing to advance, lining up more shots with the General.

It was about to fire again when a burst of bullets hit it in the head, prompting it to turn to face its new attack. Saren fired another burst at the attacker before taking a grenade from his belt and throwing it at the attack's face. It had no time to evade and the explosive hit it dead on, detonating on impact. For several seconds, it did not move as smoke from the grenade billowed around its head, until it slowly began to tilt back and then fell onto the ground with a loud thud.

"Are you all right?" Saren asked, hastily running over to where his brother lay.

"I'm fine," he grunted, getting to his feet. Almost reluctantly, a grin spread across his face. "You know, most people don't try to use grenades in situations like that."

"I had to improvise," Saren said, shrugging his shoulders.

"Well, good job I suppose. Now, what were those things?" Desolas and Saren approached the dead creature that had attacked them, and what they saw caused their stomachs to drop. The massive thing was made of metal and was bipedal with two arms and two legs, but wheels were attached to the back of the legs. It's torso was massive and its arms had weapons attached to the top of their wrists. The was even a rocket launcher mounted to the things shoulder. And to top it off, the figure's head had three glowing red eyes that were slowly fading away.

"A...a synthetic?" Desolas whispered. "They use synthetics too?"

"Oh Spirits," Saren said, looking at the General. "Brother...what are we fighting here?"

"I...I don't know Saren," he admitted. "These...these newcomers are far more powerful than I realized." Turning, he looked out at the alien city again. "And I led a war party to their doorstep."

XXXXX

CODEX UPDATED

ENTRIES ADDED

Coalition Heavy Infantry: When a job is too much for the light infantry but not serious enough to warrant a Ranger, the heavy infantry step in. Heavy infantry lack the same flair that the light infantry do, due to being using the most up to date version of power armor (at the time of writing model t-101x which posses above average kinetic barriers and armor sturdy enough that a shot from a small arm only has a 25% chance of breaching it) which is too bulky to allow for customized uniforms, although some get around this by painting crests on their armor. The exception to this is the Meta-Humans, who are too large for power armor and instead wear combat armor customized for their size and with fairly powerful kinetic barriers. The heavy infantry is comprised of Standard and Necro-Humans in power armor as well as Meta-Humans. It is worth noting that due to their size and strength, all Meta-Humans in the Coalition military are automatically assigned to the heavy infantry.

They are much more well equipped than the light infantry, being the only part of the Coalition military besides Rangers who receive energy weapons as standard issue, mainly due to high expenses involved in their production. They are also given more devastating weapons such as gatling lasers, rocket launchers, flamethrowers etc. While these weapons are indeed issued among the light infantry, they are far more commonly found in their heavy counterparts. While the light infantry do outnumber the heavy 4 to 1, what they lack in numbers, they make up for in firepower.

The Left Hand (of God): One of the many subsections of the light infantry, the Left Hand of God (usually shortened to the Left Hand) originated back on Earth, specifically the Vatican. They wear bright white combat armor with golden crosses painted on.

For reasons unknown, in the Great War nuclear missiles never struck Vatican City, theories range from it not being targeted, to the silos that did target it being destroyed by hostile fire, to a simple computer mistake. However, the city was not spared the wrath of Post-War Earth.

Within months, swarms of refugees sought shelter in the still intact city. The leaders of the city let in who they could afford to care for, but were forced to turn many away. In time, many became violent and attempted to take the city and whatever resources it had by force, a foreshadowing of the coming Raider tribes. The Swiss Guard fought valiantly, killing many of the attackers, but one by one they were picked off. One day, a band of Raiders broke in attacked a group of nuns, killing their guards and intending to take them for themselves. However, one Mother present was able to secure a pistol from one of the killed attackers and, in the heat of the moment, kill the surviving Raiders.

At that point, it became clear that the men and women of the Vatican would have to adapt to survive in the harsh Post-War world. The Vatican and by extension the Holy Catholic Church underwent radical changes, becoming the New Holy Catholic Church. The priests were taught how to wield weapons, nuns became full on priests, and old teachings were replaced with new ones. With the number of defenders rising, Vatican City became a less appealing target and Raiders left in alone, searching for easier prey. Within time the Vatican began to spread out, growing in size, establishing refugee camps and growing food. It would go on to become one of the new nations of Post-War Earth

The Left Hand were and still are the best fighters in the Vatican, even if they now serve the Coalition. Every last man and woman that is part of a Left Hand is an official priest of the Vatican, as well as a highly trained commando, usually specializing at close range combat. Their commando training takes place alongside their training as priests, they day they become one is the day that they become another. However, a single lesson is engrained into their minds above all. They are the protectors of the innocent, not the judges of the guilty, they attack only when attacked. The men and women of the Left Hand take this very seriously, some of them having fallen into depression when they have broken this rule, believing that they have become just like the butchers of the Inquisition.

Coalition Voluntary Militia: As a result of originating from a devastated homeworld, most Humans of all types had grown used to owning weapons of some kind. Many civilians in Coalition space keep firearms in their household, the law allowing them to even own automatic weapons. They are usually well trained in using them, again a result of their brutal homeworld.

On underdeveloped colonies or outlying settlements, civilians sometimes form voluntary militia for patrol duty. They are not official members of the Coalition military but are for the most part respected by those who are. Militia are not provided weapons by the Coalition and must make due with what they can afford, as such most cannot afford and do not use combat armor. Most officers view using militia in battle as something that should be avoided if possible.

Mechanized Infantry: With the fear of the Protheans lurking beyond colonized space, watching and preparing to invade the Coalition, they needed as many soldiers as they could get. While there is a fairly large ratio of voluntary soldiers and militia in the Coalition, it was decided by Parliament that in the case of an impending alien invasion, more were needed. Thus the mechanized infantry were born.

They are mainly compromised of two different designs of robots that have received massive upgrades from their pre-war models, the Mr. Gutsy and sentry bots though protectrons have been used on occasion. They are commonly deployed throughout the Coalition for a variety of roles, though sentry bots are commonly deployed into high risk scenarios more than Mr. Gutsys.

What is truly remarkable about these machines is their intelligence. With the discovery of Element Zero, the Coalition was able to create far more powerful computers, including terminals, omni-tools and more advanced A.I.s, the last of which can be found in every machine in the mechanized infantry. While they cannot be classified as super computers, the machines in the Coalition military on average are self aware and posses the same intelligence as an average standard Human, making them more effective in a fight than robots seen outside of the military, which have painfully basic programming and no self awareness. Currently, the mechanized infantry makes up an estimated 20% of the Coalition's military forces.


	4. Unpredicted Force

XXXXX

"Is this everyone?" Williams asked. He was sitting in the back of a Rhino APC with its back door still down. Ten other APCs had gathered in the middle of the park, soldiers from all over the city loading into them while five vertibirds floated overhead. The colony of Shanxi did not have very much in the way of armor, and of the few tanks that they did have, Williams had only been able to spare two for this assault. That being said, the two Viper tanks at the front of the throng of vehicles were a welcome sight to see. They were the size of small houses and had dual main cannons in addition to a pair of machine-guns.

"Looks like it," Charon replied, taking a seat next to him and across from Fawkes. "Looks pretty sizable, I think it'll get the job done."

"All right then," Williams said, putting his hand to his ear again. "Have the sentry bots completed their scouting run?"

"Yes sir, unfortunately, they were detected and destroyed, but I was still able to recover their visual feeds."

"Damn it," Williams whispered. "just...just send it to my omni-tool."

"Understood."

"Also, have the Stalker units reported in?"

"Yes sir, they reached the position you ordered them to five minutes ago. They are waiting for your signal to strike."

"Tell them to be ready, we're on our way. Williams out." As the General lowered his hand, he raised his omni-tool and punched in a few commands, causing a holographic screen to appear above it. Williams was quite as the recording that the sentry bots and sent back before being destroyed. "Looks like they've got a couple of platoons there at the very least," he remarked, noting the size of the alien soldiers on patrol alone.

"They've got some mounted machine-guns too," Charon remarked, looking at the recording as Williams paused it.

"And see these?" he asked, pointing to two large square pieces of metal that seemed to be jutting out of the roof of the base. "Those look like AA guns. The vertibirds will have to hold back until we can take them out."

"So we are going in without air support?" Fawkes asked.

"Sadly yes," Williams said before taking another look at the still picture. "It looks like there's a ladder on the side, if someone could get to that he could get into the roof and take them out."

"You leave that one to me," Charon said, cracking his knuckles.

"Are you sure that you're up to it?" Williams asked, looking concerned, "I know that you're a Ranger, but you're still going into hostile territory controlled by an enemy that we don't know very much about."

"Hey, I'll be fine so long as Frankenstein here keeps his laser going."

As Charon said the word "Frankenstein" Williams eyes widened in horror as they swiveled to look at Fawkes. He was about to call out, to say what he wasn't sure, when he saw Fawkes throw back his head and let out a roar of laughter. "I...what?" Williams said, looking at Charon with a confused expression coating his face. "Why is he laughing? Every Meta-Human I ever met when completely berserk when someone used slang like that."

"Fawkes and I went through a lot together, he knows that I don't mean it,"

"Wait, he's Fawkes? Then that must make you Charon." The three of them turned to see Hannah and Adam approaching their APC, weapons in hand. "I've heard quite a bit about you two," Adam said, stopping in just short of the Rhino, "Heroes of the Washington Confederacy, you even helped found it. An impressive feat to be sure."

"A Left Hand commando?" Fawkes asked, "All the way out here? I thought that the Vatican barely had enough men to protect its boarders."

"A lot of time has passed," Charon pointed out, "We haven't been on Earth in...how long now? One hundred years? Two hundred years?"

"Two hundred and fifty-one," Fawkes answered. "We never had a point to, nothing important happens on Earth anymore, everything of significance in Sol is on Mars and sometimes Titan."

"Kinda sad, we fought so hard to make that damn rock safe and now people can't wait to jump off it."

"It could be for the best," Hannah pointed out, "it's a sign that we're moving forward, that we don't have to settle for trying to build makeshift shelters out of the ruins of Pre-War civilizations."

"That's a very glass half empty way of looking at our homeworld," Williams pointed out.

"It's kind of sad but it's the truth, more people leave it every day, the Coalition is providing less and less funding to clear out and terraform red zones, let's face it, Earth is never going to be what it used to be. I'm not saying that's a good thing, but it's what's happening."

"And with aliens at our boarder we're going to be pushing out even further," Williams said. "Speaking of which, we were about to ask them to leave, care to join us? I imagine that they will take some persuasion."

"We would be honored," Hannah said, the two of them climbing onto the APC.

"All units, head out," Williams said into his COM unit as the door to their Rhino closed and the APC roared to life. "Vertibirds, maintain minimal safe distance from enemy stronghold until I give the all clear, enemy AA guns have been spotted. The enemy force is estimated to be somewhere from fifty to a hundred men. Stalker units will be providing us with support. Let's make this quick and clean. ETA is fifteen minutes."

"We've got a little bit of time to kill then," Hannah said as Williams lowered his hand.

"That we do."

"So, what was Earth like the last time that you were there Father?" Charon asked.

"Please, call me Adam. And as much as I hate to admit it, Hannah here has a point, development on Earth has been reduced to a crawl. No new settlements are established, existing ones barely expand, and while 2 billion people still live on it, by the end of the century I expect that number to be cut in half. I suppose people don't want to be reminded about what we once had and lost, and that they prefer to move on."

"Many were worried about Earth running out of resources," Fawkes commented, "I suppose it is good that that will no longer be an issue."

"There's a bright side to everything isn't there?" Williams asked. He was about to continue when his COM unit beeped again. "What is it?" he asked. A low gruff voice spoke to Williams. As it did, a smile spread across the General's face.

XXXXX

In orbit around Shanxi, the Turian dreadnaught Vigilant fired another round from its spinal mounted cannon, which soared through space and cleanly tore through an alien cruiser. With Desolas on the planet's surface, another Turian officer had taken command of the ship.

"What is the status of the enemy fleet?" he demanded, looking at the row of navigators in front of him.

"Most of it has been destroyed, only three ships remain, two frigates in a cruiser. The majority of our fleet is still intact, we only lost six ships, four frigates and two cruisers. The remaining enemy ships are holding back, just out of weapons range."

"Good. Are there any updates on the ground campaign?"

"General Desolas has not reported any major...wait." The navigator that was talking reached forward and began to type into the console in front of him, causing a message to pop up in front of him. "He just sent word...he...he wants the second invasion wave to be launched."

"What?" the officer asked, walking forward to where the navigator sat and looking at the screen. His eyes quickly scanned through the text, confirming what the navigator had said. "Why would he order that? Standard procedure dictates that reinforcements should not be deployed until the first wave manages to establish a firm foothold on an enemy world, and it is far too soon for Desolas to have done that."

"Perhaps he has run into trouble and requires support?" the navigator suggested.

"The men that he brought down with him should be enough to hold off any outlining forces," the officer said, but his voice lacked confidence. In the back of his mind, an uncomfortable thought was eating away at him. Just because they had just encountered this species for the first time, didn't mean that they had necessarily just discovered space travel.

The Rachni invaded Council space the moment they had been discovered, staring a war that dragged on for centuries. They had never been seen before but they had had the military might to nearly wipe out the Council. If they could do that, who was to say that these newcomers couldn't?

"As odd as it may be, the General's orders are final. Contact all ships, tell them to launch all predesignated dropships. In the meantime close in and wipe out the last of their orbital forces. I don't want to drag this battle out anymore than I-"

"SIR! I'm picking signatures that match the ones given off by the enemy ships!"

"What do you mean?"

"Ships are entering the system, not that far from the surviving defenders. I...spirits I count twenty five ships in this new fleet."

The officer looked up at the viewscreen that was placed at the front of the bridge. Indeed, dozens of ships were dropping out of lightspeed in a battle formation, closely clustered together and facing them. Already he could see the three ships that he had intended to destroy moving to fall in among the ranks of the reinforcements.

"Sir, we're outnumbered 2 to 1, we weren't prepared for resistance this heavy," the navigator said, panic in his voice.

The officer couldn't blame him, already dread was filling his stomach, but he forced his voice to remain level. "Analyze the fleet, what classes are their ships."

"I...hold on," the navigator said, fingers flying across his terminal again. I count ten frigates eight cruisers and seven...I'm not sure."

"What do you mean you're not sure?" the officer demanded, looking confused and annoyed at the same time.

"Seven of their ships are of a design that I've never seen before, they're around the same size as cruisers, but their design is radically different."

"But it is a dreadnaught?"

"No sir, it is not nearly big enough."

"Good." A small smile crossed the officer's face. While it was clear that they were going to take heavier casualties than they had expected, he was confident that he could still turn this battle around. After all, his fleet had a dreadnaught, which could easily tip the scales of any battle in the favor of the person that controlled it, even if it was outnumbered. At least...that is what he thought.

Before he could give any orders to deal with the new threat, the viewscreen showed a flash from the distant fleet as a pure white beam shot through space and smashed into the Vigilant. The dreadnaught bucked wildly, causing the officer to slam into the console in front of him and the officer to fly into his back. "What was that?" he demanded as he got back to his feet.

"They enemy fleet moved into weapons range and fired at us with...I'm not sure," the navigator admitted. "But whatever it was our shields were useless against it. It impacted on the lower half off the ship. I'm getting reports of casualties and half of our point defense lasers are offline, as are our disruptor torpedoes launch tubes."

The officer fought back the urge to gulp, gritting his mandibles. He was a officer of the Turin Hierarchy, countless people were depending on him with their lives to make the right choice. He could not afford to panic. "Contact General Desolas," he said to the navigator. "Tell him that the enemy has reinforced their position and are using unknown weapons against us. We can't afford to stay here, if we do we'll all die. Tell him that we need to retreat, that he needs to withdraw his ground forces. In the meantime maintain battle formation, target those unknown vessels, I assume that they are the ones that used that weapon?"

"Yes," the navigator said, trying to ignore the blips on the screen in front of him that indicated that blasts similar to the one that had hit the Vigilant had destroyed a cruiser and a frigate. "Sir, what will we do if General Desolas refuses to order a retreat?"

The officer hesitated before replying. "Then I will give the order myself."

"But sir, disobeying the orders of a superior officer and abandoning our men? You'll be executed."

The officer gulped as the navigator's words echoed in his ears. "I know. But If it means preventing hundreds of good men from dying a pointless death...I...I will accept that."

"But...don't you have a son?"

The officer gave a weak chuckle. "He's a tough kid. He'll understand." He sounded as if he was trying to convince himself what he was saying was true.

"Sir...Lieutenant Victus...thank you."

A smile flickered across Victus' face before a fading away. "Get that main gun going! Every second we waste is precious!"

XXXXX

"Have you managed to reach any conclusions?" Desolas demanded. He was standing in the middle of the mess hall of his firebase. One of the synthetics that had attacked them half an hour ago was lying on one of the tables, three of his mechanics were gathered around it. They were going everything that they could to analyze the machine, even going so far as to cut it open and analyze the inner circuitry.

"It definitely appears to be designed for heavy duty front line missions," one of the mechanics said, turning to face him. "It possess three weapons, a missile launcher and a machine-gun, as well as...a third weapon."

"What third weapon?" Desolas asked, certain that he didn't want to know the answer.

"You saw them use it. An automatic laser, highly precise and designed to tear through armor with minimal effort."

"Lasers small enough to be put on portable units...Spirits," he muttered. "Anything else?"

"It appears to be designed to take advantage of long flat terrain. Do you see the wheels?" The mechanic pointed to the object in question, which was sticking out of the back of the synthetic's leg. "We took a closer look at it and realized that it is retractable. We reasoned that when faced with a rocky field in front of itself, this synthetic withdraws the wheels into its body and walks. It will no doubt be slower, but stable."

"I am glad that you were able to tell me this, but I think that you know what my primary concern with these things are. Where they being controlled remotely or where they thinking independently?" All three of the mechanics stiffened, looking at Desolas nervously. "Well?"

"Sir, we cannot say for sure. Our equipment here is limited so we cannot draw a solid conclusion and-"

"You sound nervous," Desolas said quietly, "what did you find?"

"I...sir, part of the synthetic's memory banks survived its destruction. We were only able to get a couple of scraps of data out of it. Among the files that we found was a recording of the synthetic talking to one of the aliens. We used the data on the alien's language that we managed to recover from their destroyed ships at the 314 Relay and-"

"Get on with it," Desolas growled.

The mechanic flinched at Desolas' voice. "I...sir we managed to partially translate the conversation. It...it appears that the alien was asking the synthetic its opinion on the status of the colony. The synthetic replied that...that it though, it THOUGHT" the Turian repeated, "that it was pleasant. It...it formed its own opinion."

"Spirits," Desolas whispered, looking at the dead machine again. "Are these aliens insane? They create synthetics that are capable of thinking for themselves and then proceed to give them weapons? Don't they have any idea of what could happen? This is the Geth waiting to happen all over again. No, this is even worse, at least the Quarians weren't stupid enough to give the Geth guns for arms!"

"What does this mean sir?"

"This has become a much more serious matter of an ignorant race activating a dormant Mass Relay. If these newcomers willingly make sentient synthetics, then the security of every last galactic power is threatened. We could be looking at a much longer and larger war than any of us could have predicted when we first made contact with these creatures."

"Sir...what...what should we do?"

"Get this one and the other two loaded onto dropships. I want them taken back to friendly territory to see if we can get anything out of them. Dismissed." The General turned and walked out of the mess hall, only to find Saren waiting for him outside.

"You handled yourself fairly well out there," the Turian said to his younger brother, smiling slightly. "Keep it up, we're going to need a lot more men like you soon."

"You're saying that this could turn into a full scale war?" Saren asked.

"Eavesdropping are you? Sadly...yes. These aliens are breaking more Council laws than simply expanding outward too far without considering the consequences. Their actions endanger the lives of every last living thing in the Council and beyond. I-" he was cut off as his COM unit beeped.

"What?" he asked, his talons flying to his ear. "I...say that again...WHAT! Confirm that!...I give the orders here!...I did not say that, I said that I gave the orders, not that I disagree. Sadly...it appears that that is what we must do. I will give the order now, I will start sending up dropships as soon as I can."

"What happened?" Saren asked, the two of them coming to a sudden halt.

"Enemy reinforcements," Desolas grunted, "They're proving to be too much for our forces. We're going to have to cut our losses and fall back." He raised his hand to his COM unit again. "All units! This is General Desolas. I am ordering a full retreat, the enemy presence here has proven itself to be more powerful than we can hope to deal with. Return to your dropships as soon as possible, all of our ships will depart in half an hour. We will not wait after that."

"We're running?" Saren exclaimed. "We attacked these damn things on their own turf and now we're running?"

"I understand your frustration," Desolas said, putting a hand on Saren's shoulder. "It irritates me to no end to leave this planet under the control of these fools, but we need to accept in this scenario, they have the upper hand. In war, that happens sometimes, you go into a battle thinking that everything with factor in your favor when in reality fate is on the side of your enemy. It is impossible to win every battle, and only a fool presses on when it becomes clear that the odds are against him."

"What are you saying? It's our duty as soldiers of the Hierarchy to defeat threats like this. How are we doing that by running away?"

Desolas let out a low chuckle. "In many ways you're still a child. Things are not as simple as we would like them to be. It is true that it is our duty to destroy threats to the Hierarchy and by extension the Council, but the straightforward way is not always the right way. Remember that Saren, sometimes you must abandon more obvious path of action in order to accomplish what needs to be done. By retreating here, we avoid deaths that would accomplish nothing and by extension we have more men to fight a battle in the future that we actually have a chance of winning. Do you understand?"

"I...I think that I do."

"Good," Desolas said, smiling slightly. "Now then, we need to assist in the evacuation of this base, I want you to-"

"SIR!" a voice thundered over the COM lines, so loud that Saren could hear it clearly, "there is an enemy convey heading right this way! They have tanks and gunships with them! They can't be more than five minutes. We-GAH." A blood curdling shriek filled Desolas' ears, a sickening ripping noise faintly present. He heard gunshots over the lines before more screams and ripping noises overtook them.

"What's going on?" Saren shouted.

"I don't know. Follow me." Desolas turned and ran up a flight of stairs, Saren right behind him. They emerged onto a set of catwalks, overlooking the field in front of the base. Several Turian bodies were laying on the ground, massive gashes in their chests with purple blood still flowing out. Desolas gasped in disbelief as he saw the cause of this.

A massive creature with claws that were easily a foot long and horns on either side of its face lunged at a nearby Turian, swinging both of its arms as it did. The soldier fell to the ground, lifeless as its head rolled off to the side. Five of the creatures were slaughtering his men with ease, completely dominating them in the close quarters that they were fighting in. One soldier a fair distance away attempted to line up a shot, only for two of the creatures to turn and face him, shooting at him with shoulder mounted machine-guns. The combined firepower proved to be too much for both his shields and his body.

Grabbing the handles to a nearby machine-gun, Desolas swung the massive weapon around and opened fire on the nearest creature. It barely had time to register the noise before rounds tore through its body, killing it almost instantly. The Turian was about to turn and fire on another creature when suddenly they grew faint, becoming harder and harder to see before they disappeared all together. "Active camouflage?" Desolas shouted, furious at how the monsters that had slaughtered his men had slipped away.

Grinding his mandibles in rage, he looked up and saw the enemy convey that had been reported bearing down on them, no more than a minute or two away. "ALL FORCES!" he roared into his COM unit. "Defend this base with every last bit of spirit that you have! We WILL hold out until all of our forces have been evacuated!"

CODEX UPDATED

ENTRIES ADDED

Coalition Destroyer: Pre-War scholars are often baffled by the choice of words in classifying this particular warship. The Coalition destroyer is, in fact, designed for long range combat, as opposed to its naval counterpart. It is a very good example of the Coalition's original technology combining with Mass Effect technology, for the destroyer's spinal mounted cannon was replaced with a Tesla cannon, a weapon with unique properties that allows it to dominate space combat.

The Tesla cannon is an energy weapon, therefore kinetic barriers do not hinder their progress in any way. This is true for all energy weapons, and despite the best efforts of the Coalition to create a type of shielding to block them, they have had no success, limiting themselves to only being able to block solid matter.

The destroyer forwards the majority of its power supply to its cannon, allowing the blast to travel massive distances without dissipating, making it invaluable in long range missions, especially for attacking heavy enemy fleets. It is not without its flaws though, while the Tesla cannon passes through kinetic barriers, it lacks the same stopping power as mass accelerators and merely fries enemy electronics in the area hit, meaning that multiple shots will be needed to take out heavier ship if the engines cannot be targeted. Also due to the Tesla cannon's massive power draw, the destroyer has relatively weak shields and poor maneuverability, a single frigate will be able to destroy one if it gets close enough. To be used to their full potential, destroyers must seamlessly be woven into a fleet with sentries to defend it.

Rhino APC: As it expanded into space, the Coalition realized that it would need a ground based vehicle to ferry its men to the front lines. The first model was the Mako, which, despite high exceptions, was widely regarded as a failure. It was constructed at a point where the Coalition was still struggling to master Mass Effect technology, as a result the inner mechanisms of the Mako conflicted with each other, making it difficult to drive and prone to frequent accidents. It was quickly scrapped and replaced with the Rhino.

The Rhino was designed to take punishment, and while it cannot be considered a tank, it has enough shielding and armor to withstand several shots from light to moderate anti-tank weapons. It is even durable enough to survive the same drops that were commonly used to deploy the Mako. Rhinos tend to vary in size, but on average, a dozen soldiers can be comfortably fitted into a single one, with extra space for Meta-Humans and Deathclaws. However, while the Rhino is considered superior to the Mako in many aspects, it is lacking in firepower. While the Mako was equipped with a cannon, the Rhino only possess a mounted machine-gun that must be operated manually, making it far less of a threat in combat. Currently, no other variants of the APC exist, although rumors exist that the designers of the Rhino are hard at work on them.

Viper Tank: Without a doubt the heaviest tank made by the Coalition, the Viper combines its massive size with overwhelming firepower to create a terrifying and demoralizing affect. Deployed usually for cracking strong defensive lines, the Viper is a valuable asset for any commander to have under his command. Even more devastating is the Viper's close cousin, which, while more rare, trades in a Viper's normal primary canon for a plasma cannon.

However, this massive machine of war is not without its flaws. Its large scale makes it resistant to all but the heaviest of weapons, but at times it becomes a liability. The Viper is slow compared to most tanks and fairly clumsy at times. It also maneuvers poorly, requiring wide spaces to turn, and is nearly helpless in wooded areas. Air units will have an easy time picking off the Viper as it possess no anti-air capabilities. What is more, the Viper is simply expensive, making it impossible to deploy everywhere in large quantities. That being said the Viper is loved dearly among the Coalition, for as one First Contact War veteran said "there's nothing quite like driving around a house sized mass of (censored) you"

Stalker Corps: For the longest time, the Coalition had difficulty finding a place for Deathclaws in the armed forces. The only weapons that they are capable of using are shoulder mounted machine-guns and cannons, and while they do posses powerful limbs, they lack the same strength that Meta-Humans do, forcing the weapons to be fairly light. It was discovered that Deathclaws preformed poorly around those not of their species, ineffective at tactics of the light infantry and lacking the firepower needed for the heavy. Finally, the Deathclaws were given their own unit, the Stalker Corps.

While Deathclaws can use weapons, they preform poorly at standing still or holding a position due to their size and hunter instinct. They preform much better as an on the move pack, which the Stalker packs are designed around. They are fast moving units designed to reach the enemy in the blink of an eye and end the fight before it even starts, playing to the advantages of the Deathclaw's body. Stalkers tend to prefer claws over their weapons, with them being weapons that they were born with and are very comfortable with. However, in the last century, Stalker units were given a deadly upgrade. Cloaking devices.

XXXXX

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: The quote in the Viper tank entry was referencing something Cookies to those who know what. Also quick bit of trivia for how I came up with the Stalkers. I took Deathclaws, arguably one of the most deadly enemies in Fallout with their powerful claws, long jump, ability to ignore armor, silently run at a fast rate, and being able to survive an armor piercing .50 round to the face and asked myself "How can I make this more deadly?...make it invisible."


	5. Hatred is Formed

XXXXX

Saren barely had time to blink before a tank shell smashed into the front of the firebase, blasting a massive chunk out of the front wall and sending the bodies of three Turians flying. "Get rockets on those tanks! We need to buy time for the dropships to get away!" Desolas shouted. As he did, another tank shell hit the base, twisting the catwalks that it hit into a mess of misshapen metal. Desolas dove off of them in order to avoid the blast, landing on the ground and rolling as he did.

Saren desperately grabbed at a nearby railing as the catwalk beneath him gave out. Grunting, he reached out and grabbed the next part of it before letting go with his other hand and grabbing forward again until he had managed to pull himself onto a section that was still intact, right in front of the AA guns. Pulling himself to his feet, Saren looked down at the front of the base, which had turned into a battlefield.

Deployable cover, little more than blocks of metal, had been set up in front of the base, now providing cover to Turian soldiers. A few of them had mounted machine guns that were being crewed, as well as the ones on the catwalks.

The alien APCs had screeched to a halt a fair distance away from the defenders, and were now using them as cover as they traded fire with them. Each of the APCs also had their own machine-gun on top that was being manned and directed at the Turian base. In the midst of it all, the two alien tanks pressed forward, firing their cannons at the Turian cover and sending half a dozen more of them flying.

Unholstering his rifle, Saren brought it up to eye level and lined up a shot with one of the APC's gunners before firing a burst. The shot pinged off of its shields and alerted it to Saren's presence, causing him to whirl the gun around to face him. Even as the bullets began to slam into the wall behind him, Saren took one hand off of his rifle and extended it in front of him, conjuring up a biotic barrier to protect himself.

The bullets began to hit the barrier, which began to weaken at once. Not wasting any time, Saren put his hand back on his rifle and took aim at the gunner again firing three more bursts. The first two succeeded in shattering the alien's shields while the third pierced its cranium, scattering the back of the APC with grey matter as the alien slumped over.

Saren forced himself to the side as the tanks fired again, this time blowing a sizable hole in the side of the base, more than large enough for soldiers to fit into. Swearing under his breath, Saren turned around, looking at the roof of the base, behind the AA guns. To his relief, he saw the roof open and two gunships fly out, heading for the fleet above. Good men were getting away safely.

Turning back to the battle below him, he saw a rocket fly from their defensive lines and hit one of the tanks directly. The forward gun emplacements on the vehicle were blown off, but the main cannons merely redirected at the Turian who had fired and a single shot took care of him. "We're not equipped for anti-armor operations," Saren hissed, "we need heavier ordnance than what we've got."

As he continued to look down, trying to think of something that he could do to buy the dropships more time when he spotted something. A figure in pitch black armor was running across the no man's land between the Turians and the aliens, not even bothering to fire his weapon. As the figure continued to run, three soldiers rose up from behind cover, all of them aiming their weapons at the advancing alien. However, before they could so much as fire a single shot, a hailstorm of lasers descended upon them turning all of them to ash. Saren's eyes snapped to one of the closer alien APCs, and saw a massive yellow creature holding a weapons that was still firing laser beams at any Turian that posed even the faintest of threats to the alien in black armor.

Within seconds it had reached the base and had grabbed onto the ladder, climbing up with unusual speed. Realizing with a jolt that the alien was heading his way, Saren aimed his rifle at it and fired five bursts at it. Three of them hit it in the torso while the other two streaked by, causing the alien to look up at him.

Drawing its shotgun with one hand, the alien fired a blast up at the catwalks, causing Saren to stumble backwards, firing another burst as he did. The alien continued to advance up the ladder, firing two more blasts from its shotgun. Saren's barrier was badly weakened by the blasts, prompting him to round a corner and press up against the wall of the base, holding his rifle tightly.

The alien finally reached the top of the ladder, pulling itself onto the catwalks. Saren spun around the corner and fired two more bursts at it, only to have another shotgun blast force him back into cover. 'It's shields are strong,' the young Turian reflected, "I've lost count of how many times I've shot it.' He tried to ignore the heart thundering in his chest, forcing himself to stay focused.

He sneaked a peak around the corner, faintly registering another dropship taking off from the center of the base, heading upward to safety. The alien had taken a device off of its belt and was fiddling with it. Without a word, it threw the device at the AA guns, which were just behind Saren. Panicking, Saren once again raised his rifle and moved into position to shoot the alien, but it was ready for him and fired its shotgun one last time.

The pellets shattered Saren's barrier and forced him onto his back, knocking the breath out of him. He craned his neck up just in time to see the alien jumping off of the catwalks. Saren was starting to wonder why he had done that when the device the alien had thrown exploded. A green ball of energy and force thundered outward, destroying both of the AA guns and catching Saren in the tip of the blast.

Pain like Saren had never known tore through his body as he was thrown off of the catwalks, landing painfully on the grassy fields below. He rasped deeply as his entire body seemed to throb. He couldn't see anything through his left eye and everything that he saw through his right eye was blurry, as if he was looking through clouded glass.

He tried to push himself to his feet, but his right arm didn't move. Looking to the side, he tried not to puke. His arm was charred and twisted, one of the fingers hanging off loosely. Again he tried to move it, only to feel no response. Panicking, he tried to move his other arm and felt some relief as his hand moved in front of his face, intact aside from a few scratches.

"SAREN!" The wounded Turian looked up to see Desolas running towards him with two other soldiers behind him.

"AA guns...they...gone," Saren croaked weakly.

Desolas barely even glanced up before looking down at his younger brother. "Get on the radio," he snapped to one of the other soldiers, "we're abandoning this place, they're gonna hit us with all of their air support now. Tell everyone to drop what they're doing and get to the dropships. Almost at once, a stream of bullets sped past and nearly killed Desolas. "And get him out of here!" he shouted to the two soldiers, taking cover behind one of the deployable barricades. "I need to stay behind and direct the evacuation, GO!"

Without another word, the two soldiers grabbed Saren and began to haul him towards the base. Saren weakly watched as Desolas fell into rank with the remaining defenders, even as the aliens began to advance on their position.

XXXXX

"Is he crazy?!" Hannah shouted as she edged around the now parked Rhino and fired her SMG, killing an alien trooper. She was looking at Charon as he jumped off of the catwalks of the alien base, just as the plasma grenade that he had thrown detonated.

"Rangers do stuff like that all the time," Williams shouted from where he was crouching, firing his own SMG, "this is actually pretty tame by comparison."

"I have to agree with Hannah here," Adam said, firing his shotgun and claiming the life of an alien who had stuck his head up for a second too long. "A detonator would have made his mission a lot easier and safer."

"Shanxi isn't exactly swimming in the most sophisticated of equipment, we have to make do with what we've got." Williams slid back behind the Rhino as his COM unit beeped. "What is it Marcus?"

"General," the Vice-Admiral replied, "I thought that you would like to know that the alien vessels have begun to jump out of the system. I suspect that it has something to do with the damage that my ships did to their fleet. My scanners also detected dropships docking with the ships that fled."

"I'm starting to see that," Williams said, noticing an alien gunship flying out of the center of the base in front of him, heading for the heavens. "Keep pushing Admiral, I've still got a mess down here to clean up."

"Understood," Marcus said before the line died.

"All right, all vertibirds, AA guns are down, I repeat, AA guns are down, you are weapons free." No sooner that he had spoken than the five VTOLs, which up until this point had been holding back, tore through the air, gatling lasers blazing. Within seconds, all of the aliens that had remained on the catwalks were mowed down and a dropship that been taking off had one of its wings torn off, causing it to spiral downward and crash into the base, taking down the rest of the catwalk.

"HAHA!" Fawkes roared "NOW THEY DIE!" As if to emphasize his point, he aiming his gatling laser at two Turians who were attempting to drag away a wounded third one. Before he could fire though, a stream of bullets impacted on the kinetic barriers around his head. Turning to the side, Fawkes had just enough time to see one of the alien's smash into his chest. The Meta-Human, caught off guard, tumbled to the ground.

The alien, hissing with rage, jumped into Fawkes chest, aiming a rifle at his face. However, Fawkes was undeterred, and grabbed the alien by the leg. Letting out a roar, he threw the alien to the side, slamming him against the side of the Rhino. Seeing the alien scrambling to his feet and fumbling for what looked like a grenade at his side, Williams panicked and threw himself at the alien, knocking both of them over.

As they lay sprawled on the ground, Williams attempted to get to his feet, only to have a fist slam into his face. Looking at the alien, he saw it draw a viciously curved knife and swing at him. It narrowly grazed his right cheek, prompting Williams to push himself back and to reach for the longsword that he wore around his belt.

Drawing the weapon, he saw the alien lunge at him again, forcing him up against the Rhino and thrusting the knife against his stomach. Williams felt a sharp pain as the knife slipped through one of the gaps in his armor, tearing at his side. Gritting his teeth in pain, he swung his sword so that he hit the alien in the head with the hilt, causing it to stumble back. Williams followed up by raising his foot and kicking his foe in the chest, forcing it onto its back.

Taking his sword in both hands he raised it over his head and thrust downward at his disoriented opponent. There was a silent squelching noise as the blade pierced the alien's chest. The alien croaked as purple blood poured out of the wound, a trickle even coming out of its mouth. Then, in a flash, it threw its knife at Williams, which embedded itself in his leg. Hissing in pain as he fell to one knee, Williams drew his sword out and stabbed down three more times for good measure. The alien's body spasmed violently which each stab, then it became very still, its muscles limp.

Williams panted as he fell to all fours, his hands slipping off of the hilt of his sword. Somehow, he forced himself to look up. The enemy base was practically right in front of him, so close he could clearly see the alien troopers. One of them was badly wounded and being dragged onto a dropship by two others. Was it a trick of the light, or was it looking at him? Its face seemed to be filled with shock and, unless he was mistaken, anger. The alien was quickly loaded onto a dropship, which promptly took off, heading for the fleet above.

"Son of a bitch," Williams hissed, reaching for the knife in his leg.

"Don't," Adam said, running to his side with Hannah, "That'll make the bleeding worse if you don't do it properly. I have some medi-gel. Miss Shepard, could you help me-"

"Don't sweat it," the brown haired woman said, kneeling down next to Williams along with the Left Hand commando, pushing the General onto his back at the same time. "Damn it, looks like they got him in the chest too," Hannah muttered.

"Then that takes priority," Adam said, producing a thin metal canister from his side and pressing it against the wound before pulling a trigger, shooting medi-gel into the wound.

"Ahh, feels better already," Williams sighed.

"Well, let me apologize in advance General. Miss Shepard?" Hannah nodded as she grabbed the knife and, none too gently, pulled it out.

"GAH, SON OF A BITCH!" Williams roared, even as Adam filled the wound with medi-gel.

"Well, these wounds don't seem to be life threatening General, that being said I would recommend that you refrain yourself from combat until the medi-gel does its work, which could take a couple of days."

"You've got to be kidding me, there's still a fight to be had here," Williams growled.

"Not really," Hannah said, looking at the base. Only a few alien soldiers were still left and all of them where running for the handful of remaining dropships, even as Coalition tanks and infantry began to advance on the base. "It's pretty much over."

"There are still skirmish fighters scattered throughout the city," Williams hissed, "they need to be taken care of."

"And they will, as soon as Admiral Marcus drops reinforcements, now for the love of God stay still," Hannah sighed, "I swear you're worse than my son, and he's not even a year old yet."

"You're a parent?"

A small smile crossed Hannah's face as she reached into her pocket and handed her family photo to Williams. "Twins. You?"

Chuckling slightly, Williams reached into his own uniform as he took the photo, handing one of his own to Hannah. "Only one son I'm afraid," he said, looking at the photo that had been given to him. Both of the soldiers looked at the photos that they had been given. Hannah noticed that the photo in her hand was in fact a wedding photo between a woman and a man who faintly resembled Williams.

"They're expecting a kid of their own you know. His wife is due any day now." Williams gave a slight groan as he repositioned himself against the side of the Rhino, Hannah sitting down next to him. "I was supposed to get some leave in a couple of days to go visit them. That plan sure got canned."

"I know the feeling, my husband barely made it in time for John and Jane being born. Still, they'll understand, they'll know that your duties come first, you're a General after all."

"Definitely considering retiring through, passing the sword onto a younger generation." He glanced at the weapon that was sticking out of the dead alien. "Literally and figuratively." He glanced at Hannah. "Uh, not to be pushy but could you please get my sword for me? I'd get it myself, but it kinda hurts to walk right now."

Hannah snorted as she got to her feet walking towards the alien and pulling the sword out with a grunt. As she did, she took a closer look at the dead soldier, specifically his armor. "Is it just me or is his armor a different color from the rest of them?"

"What do you mean?" Adam asked, approaching her.

"It looks like there's some studs around the neck," Hannah said, pointing at the corpse.

Adam leaned in closer. "I see what you mean, I don't remember seeing them on other soldiers. It could be an indication of rank. This one could be an officer, maybe even the commander of the invasion."

"Heh," Williams chuckled, "Don't make me laugh Father, can I have my sword back now? I think I might need it, my wife is going to try and kill me when I miss our grandchild being born."

"Tell you what," Hannah said, walking back towards Williams and handing him the sword, "tell your wife that there's another parent that may be interesting in having her kids spending some time with another military brat. John and Jane need someone their own age to be around."

"That might help. A pretty big might but I'll keep it in mind. We're gonna have to focus though," he said, looking at the alien base, "we just made contact with an alien race for the first time. And I think they made it pretty clear that they want war."

XXXXX

Lieutenant Victus gripped terminal in front of hi, as the dreadnaught Vigilant shook violently again. "Another one of those blasts!" the navigator said, "all weapons except for the main gun are offline, and the performance rate is dropping rapidly!"

"Hold this position for as long as you can!" Victus shouted, "dropships are still coming up!" They had lost several warships to the enemy reinforcements, who were still maintaining battle formation a great distance away, out of distance of frigate fire. However, several other Turian ships had managed to escape, after picking up dropships packed with ground troops no less.

"General Desolas!" Victus shouted into his COM unit. "We're being overwhelmed up here, we can't hold out for much longer! How many more dropships are left?" He received no response. "GENERAL! I need confirmation!"

"Sir, there's another wave of dropships coming up from the surface!" the navigator said. "I don't see any signs of any more after though!"

"Lower the kinetic barriers around the hanger and let them in!" Victus shouted. "General Desolas are you aboard a dropship! General please answer me!" Victus found himself thrown to the ground again as the Vigilant rocked again.

"SIR! The main cannon is offline! Kinetic barriers are down!" He whirled around to look at the Lieutenant. "We won't survive another volley!"

Victus grit his mandibles. He had no confirmation that the General was on board, but the Vigilant couldn't afford to remain here any longer, and forcing the rest of the ships to remain without it would be asking them to commit suicide. "SIR! The dropships have docked, but the enemy ships are charging their weapons again! We have seconds at the very most!"

'I...I don't have a choice do I?' Victus thought as he made up his mind. "ALL SHIPS RETREAT!" he shouted into the COM lines. "MAKE A JUMP TO FTL NOW!" The bridge crew of the Vigilant didn't hesitate to react, punching commands into the terminals in front of them and within seconds, the Vigilant made a faster than light jump.

Lieutenant Victus let out a small sigh of relief as he saw the familiar sight of FTL travel through the view screen. "Damage report."

"A lot of the major systems are down, but the engines are still operating at full power. Those blasts completely fired the weapons and shields, I'm not sure if they can be repaired. There's a lot of malfunctioning circuitry on the upper decks, some of the transformers have blown. I'm getting reports of dozens of dead from the med bay, along with even more wounded."

"Very well. Set a course back to the rally point. How long until the Vigilant is battle worthy again?"

"Sir, I'm not sure that it ever will be. The damage is very extreme, we may have to scrap it."

"I see," Victus said, the faintest trace of sadness in his voice. "I have duties to attend to. You have the bridge." Turning around, he exited the bridge and began to walk towards the elevator. Numbly, he pressed the button, and instantly the door opened. He stepped in, pressing the button that would take him to the hanger and causing the doors to close and the elevator to descend.

Everything felt like a haze to him, Turians completely abandoning planets that they had established a foothold on was something few had heard of. Even during the Krogan Rebellions many commanders had chosen to defend a planet to the last soldier. Admittedly that was after the Krogan had begun to use asteroids to depopulate Turian planets, making retreat and surrender both very unappealing throughout the entire chain of command.

No, that wasn't what shocked him, what made it so that he had a hard time thinking straight was that the Turian Hierarchy had attacked a lightly defended colony. And they had lost. If they were to put the figures back to back, odds are the causalities that both they and the aliens had sustained would probably be around the same, but that wasn't the point. They were the most powerful military force in the Council, and in the first battle with an unknown force, they had been outmaneuvered and sent running. It was a uncomfortable truth, and Victus didn't like the future that it spelled out.

The doors opened onto the hanger, where a dozen dropships had landed. Countless Turians surrounded it, offloading wounded soldiers or making repairs. Two Turians moved forward holding a unconscious and badly wounded soldier between them. Victus recognized him. "Is that the General's brother?" he asked The two stopped briefly to look at him. One of them nodded hesitantly. "Spirits. Where is General Desolas?"

"He...didn't make it," one of the soldiers said.

"What? But how? If anyone could have survived that battle it was General Desolas."

"They had weapons and soldiers that we couldn't have possibly predicted. Synthetics and handheld energy weapons, they even had massive creatures that ripped us apart with their bare hands. Sir, pardon us, we need to get this man to the med bay."

"I'm coming with you. I want you to tell me everything that you saw." Victus followed the two soldiers back into the elevator. "Another battle will no doubt follow this one, and when it comes we need to be prepared. We may need to ask for assistance from the Asari and the Salarians."

"What?" one of the soldiers exclaimed as Victus pressed a button that would bring them to the med bay. "Why are we going to them?"

"Because from what I've been hearing we could have another war as bloody as the Krogan Rebellions on our hands."

"What? Are you sure?"

"I'm not certain. What did you see down there? I need to know what we're dealing with." The soldier hesitated before speaking, telling Victus what he had seen on the planet's surface. As he did, a look of dread covered Victus' face. He realized, now more than ever, the Hierarchy had no idea what it had gotten itself into.

XXXXX

CODEX UPDATED

ENTRIES ADDED

Coalition Colonies: When space travel became affordable for the average citizen people, there was a massive exodus as well as a population bloom. The current population of the Coalition (counting Standard, Necro and Meta-Humans, as well as Deathclaws and robots) is in the tens of billions, spread out across 154 planets. Many of these planets have fairly small populations of only a few million. However, inner planets, hubs of economy and culture, play home to hundreds of millions, a few of them even housing billions. Dozens of the Coalition's colonies, such as Shanxi, Elysium and Mindoir, are fairly young and tend to focus around a single export, such as ore or crops. All Coalition colonies began like this, but eventually developed to harvest other natural resources that the planet had to offer, followed by the rise of cities and massive economies. Many have noted that it is not dissimilar to how Humans developed on Earth, albeit at a much faster pace.

In the early days of colonization, the Coalition actually planned to provide hefty grants to families that were willing to live off world to create healthy and robust colonies, although that soon proved to be unnecessary. However, the success of the Coalition's colonies came at a price. Earth's economy and population dwindles every year, its industry too small and its environment too dangerous to attract settlers. Some are attempting to spark a massive economic boom to attract new workers, but few expect it to succeed. Even the Coalition is abandoning the Human homeworld, its capital has been on Mars for centuries and only a few of the projects to retake Earth are still being funded.

The Earth Reclamation Project: Before the colony ship to Mars was complete, the people of Earth fought tooth and nail for every square mile of territory, wresting it from Raiders, mutants and other Post-War dangers of Earth. Organized and heavily armed war bands were sent into red zones to clear out all threats, which would be followed by farmers and industrialists who would do everything in their powers to make the land habitable.

With the discovery of Mass Effect however, attention has been drawn away from Earth. The Earth Reclamation Protect is one of the few movements dedicated to eliminating hostile threats and recolonizing red zones on Earth that has not been dissolved. While it still receives Coalition funding, the Earth Reclamation Project is a volunteer only force, and the amount of people who step forward is steadily growing smaller, not helped by the high causality rate. Many people have been killed or badly wounded as a part of this project, some of them being forced to receive extensive cybernetic implants in order to survive.

Coalition Navy: Ever since the discovery of the Prothean cache on Mars, the Coalition has had a dedicated force of ships to defend its boarders. Fear of a Prothean invasion caused much funding to be pushed forward for the development of a fleet, which only increased when the Coalition was actually attacked by aliens. Currently, the Coalition has a fleet of 500 warships and a dedicated merchant fleet. It also has 24 dreadnoughts, the high number resulting from being unbound by any treaty, and a number of specialist ships, incorporating Pre-War and Mass Effect technology to create a unique and deadly force.

Most of the navy guards the inner territory of the Coalition, there being too many planets to guard every last one. The Coalition does its very best to colonize planets within short distances of each other, so that a single battle group can defend multiple planets. While in many cases this keeps the navy from spreading too thin, some small colonizes still find themselves undefended. The Coalition plans to install anti-ship measurements on and around these planets, but it is uncertain how effective they will be.

XXXXX

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not much to say, I hope you enjoyed it!


	6. Counterattack

XXXXX

Hannah climbed up the stairs of the main Coalition base on Shanxi until she came out to the roof. Night had fallen over the city and the sky was filled with stars. Looking around, she saw Adam kneeling not too far away, his palms pressed together. "Uh, I'm not interrupting am I?"

"Not at all," the priest said, getting to his feet while leaving his helmet where it lay. "How can I help you Miss Shepard?"

"You've been up here for quite some time and it can get pretty cold at night here. I thought that you could use something warm to drink." As she spoke, she held out one of the two steaming mugs of coffee that she was holding.

"That is very generous of you miss, thank you," Adam said, taking one of the mugs.

"Ok, I'll be blunt here, I'm getting kind of tired with the whole, miss thing, just call me Hannah."

Adam grinned as he took a sip of the coffee. "Very well Hannah," he said as he sat down.

"Mind if I ask you something?" Hannah said, sitting down next to him and taking a sip of her own drink.

"Of course not, what is it?"

"What are you doing up here? You've been coming up here a lot over the past couple of days."

"That is a question with a rather simple answer. I have been praying."

"Praying? What for? The men that we lost in the attack?"

"As a matter of fact I have, I have been praying for the good men and women of the Coalition that died during the battle. I am also praying for the aliens that we killed in the defense of the planet."

"You're WHAT!" Hannah shouted. "You've gotta be kidding me? Why would you do that?"

"They were intelligent beings that lost their lives by the hundreds. It was a tragedy that they had to die."

"A tragedy? They attacked us for no damn reason! Hell, you killed some of them yourself!"

"This is true," Adam said, looking thoughtful as he sipped his coffee. "I did kill several aliens in the battle. Three to be precise. I take no pleasure in what I did though. Also, it is true that we were attacked for no good reason. From our point of view. From their point of view this attack could have been completely justified."

"I'm glad you don't get a hard on from killing, but praying for the well being of the souls of people who launched an unprovoked attack on us is going a little too far in the other direction. Also I find that second point a little hard to swallow, how could it have possibly been justified? What could we have possibly done to deserve this?"

"It comes with being a member of the Left Hand. We are men of God, yet we are asked to kill those who pose a threat. It is walking a very thin line, in the past, many who have killed in God's name have allowed themselves to be corrupted, killing innocent people and justifying it by saying that it was God's will. Every member of the Left Hand was taught from their first day one very important lesson. Never, under any circumstances, forget the faces of those you kill. We commit every person that we kill to memory, as well as looking over the kill, to see if there was another way to solve the problem that warranted violence. We try to avoid violence if we can, it's an ugly thing. Also, our enemies are aliens, we could have done something that would've warranted war from them that seemed completely innocent to us."

"Pal, that's got to be the stupidest thing that I've ever heard in my life. Yeah, you're more faithful than the average man, so what? I've killed before and I don't need to constantly remind myself that the people that I killed were Human to keep myself from going on a killing spree. Are you saying that being religious means that you're prone to being violent? And quick question, if we did something to offend these aliens, wouldn't it occur to them that we might not what we did would be offensive to them and that maybe they should try and contact us and tell us to knock it off before they resorting to military action? When you meet a race for the first time, shooting at us with mass accelerator rounds at us isn't the smartest of things to do unless you're a bunch of war happy psychopaths."

Adam paused for a second before throwing his head back and letting out a laugh. "Uh...did I say something funny?" Hannah asked, looking a little taken aback.

"Oh, you make a good argument Hannah," Adam say, "I have to say it's a welcome change to have a discussion with someone who really makes you think about your next response. It's also rare to meet someone who is as forward and blunt as you, which is a welcome change from having people beating around the bush with what they think of you."

"I...thanks I guess."

"You make a good point, a person doesn't always need to remind themselves of the people that they have killed to prevent themselves from growing too used to it or heaven forbid even enjoy it. Also you make a fair argument about how the aliens could have contacted us in an attempt to negotiate. However, I do believe that I will continue to remind myself of the lives that I've taken. While it is true that the alien who ordered this attack did so out of poor judgement, not all of his or her men necessarily deserved the fate that befell them. Don't you agree?"

"I suppose," Hannah admitted grudgingly. "I don't really think about it. I signed up as a soldier to get my hands dirty, not to go into a philosophical ramble on the morality of war every time I kill someone."

"That is one way of putting it, not the way that I tend to view it but I can see your point."

"Yeesh Adam, you're a little wishy washy. You don't have to completely drop your argument best because I made a good point or two. You could...change the subject to something that's more in your favor or...ignore my stronger points and go after my weaker ones."

"You almost sound disappointed that I am conceding to some of your arguments."

"It's not that. It's just that I'm not really used to someone admitting that they're wrong in an argument."

"Ah, but what is the point of arguing and debating? Many would say that it is attempting to prove that your stance is stronger. However, from my point of view, the point of arguing is to clash two different ideas together so that both sides can see the ideals of the other and learn from the experience."

"You are one weird guy," Hannah said bluntly. "I can count the number of people like you that I've met in my life. Zero."

Adam chuckled. "I do admit that the upbringing of a Left Hand commando is very different from the various styles that I have seen all across Coalition space, and I have done enough traveling in my years to know. Even on the same planets there are ways of life that are as different as night and day."

"Ok, you've made your point, you know how to look at things from point of view of a philosopher, you can stop with all of the night and day and different sense of morality stuff. It's making my head spin."

Adam chuckled, "Very well, if you wish to stop I will change the subject. Perhaps we could talk about literature instead."

"There, that I can get behind."

"Oh, before I do I must ask you a quick question myself. Why are you still on Shanxi?" Hannah cocked her head slightly, glaring at Adam. Almost at once, the priest realized his fumble. He chuckled softly, "you misunderstand the point of my question, I had heard that Vice-Admiral Marcus had managed to salvage some data from the alien firebase of a nearby rally point that we was going to attack. Considering that you are a naval officer, I would have thought that you would have joined him in the counter-attack."

"Oh," Hannah said, clarity covering her face. "Well to be honest, my cruiser got scuttled during the initial attack and the ships Marcus' strike force all have fully crewed ships. I'd just get in the way. It's a little frustrating to be honest, I was in the orbital battle for five minutes the first time around." She sighed deeply. "But whatever, no point getting hung up on what I can't change I guess. We were talking about books right?"

"Yes, have you read any love stories with vampires in them?"

Hannah grinned. "Sorry Adam, but I'm not that kind of girl. I prefer stuff with substance."

"Good, you passed my test." They both laughed.

XXXXX

"Lieutenant Victus, is this information accurate?" Victus resisted the urge to gulp as he nodded. He was standing in the Council chambers on the Presidium. Ever since the clash with the alien forces three days ago, the entire Council had been in an uproar. Victus and many other Turians had been unaware that the Hierarchy had attacked the aliens without approval from the Council, or without the Council even knowing that the aliens existed.

"Yes, it is," he said, doing his best to keep a straight face.

"You say that the 6th fleet responded to an unknown race attempting to activate a Mass Relay and they were beaten back?" Councilor Sparatus looked down at Victus, distrust in his eyes. "I pray that you forgive me if I have a hard time believing this Lieutenant."

"Councilor, with all due respect, I think the facts speak for themselves. Hundreds of Turian soldiers are dead, General Desolas is dead, and his brother is in intensive care even as we speak. One of the Hierarchy's dreadnoughts has been crippled beyond repair, even now it's being stripped for salvageable parts." Victus actually found himself growing frustrated, was the Council actually trying to argue that the battle that they had lost hadn't really happened?

"That may be true, but is his hardly conclusive that a race that has never made contact with the Council before is emerging. There are many other explanations," the Salarian Councilor, Veemus, said. "It could have been terrorists, or mercenaries, perhaps renegade military forces. It might have even been Geth."

"GETH!" In spite of himself, Victus found himself shouting. "I have confirmed reports from countless men that were on the ground that the race that we engaged was organic. And even if I didn't have that confirmation, the colony that we attacked was on the opposite side of the galaxy from the Veil! How could it have possibly been the Geth?"

"They Geth have been in hiding for hundreds of years, they could have developed technology far beyond our understanding, including the capability to create artificial organic life. It would certainly explain the odd technology that you saw." Veemus' voice was calm and level as he talked. He was being serious.

"What?" Victus shouted. "You must be joking!"

Sparatus narrowed his eyes. "We make decisions that affect every last person in the Council every day. We don't joke, Lieutenant."

"You need to understand this Adrien," Councilor Tevos said, using the Turian's first name. "Every couple of years a patrol fleet ends up like yours, with massive damage and hundreds dead. Sometimes it is Batarian pirates, sometimes it is a Krogan warlord attempting to form his own miniature empire. The point is, the 6th fleet didn't bring back any conclusive evidence that the forces that you faced were of an alien species that we have yet to encounter. Do you understand why we are hesitant to act?"

"The only reason that you aren't doing anything is that the Council refuses to believe anything that isn't shoved into their face." All four of them turned around to see an Asari in a thick black cloak and a head dress walking towards them, a cold look in her eyes and an Asari Commando on either side of her.

"Matriarch Benezia," Tevos said, narrowing her eyes slightly. "May I ask what you're doing here?"

"Oh, nothing much, I just wanted you to know that I've been doing your job for you for the past couple of days, you're welcome."

"What do you mean like that?"

"You took two days to see Lieutenant Victus here, and I'm happy to see someone seems to understand that the best way to deal with your problems isn't to sit around waiting for it to come to you."

"Enough with the riddles Matriarch, either get to the point or leave," Sparatus growled.

"Well," Benezia said, folding her arms across her partially exposed chest, "if you must know, Victus has been telling everything that he knows about these aliens, as well as putting me in contact with soldiers that were on the ground so that I could hear their side of the story. I've been putting together a diplomatic party in an attempt to make peaceful contact with these aliens."

"This is unacceptable," Sparatus said instantly, "we haven't even confirmed that there are any intelligent lifeforms that we are unaware of. You cannot simply form an expedition party to venture off into unknown space without approval."

"Spartacus is right Benezia," Tevos said, "even if there is a new hostile form of life out there, it isn't your place to make contact with it, it is the Council's. We represent the galactic community as a whole, and it is our duty to introduce young races into our society."

"Oh really?" the Matriarch said, sounding very unconvinced, "just yesterday I talked with a Turian General, the one that ordered the 6th fleet into action. He seemed very convinced that aliens had tampered with the 314 Relay and that his forces had responded to him. If he was correct, and I would like to point out that he seemed very convinced that he was, the Turians didn't seem to have any problems arranging first contact with mass accelerators!" Her voice was somewhere in-between disgusted and accusatory, and she was glaring at all three of the Councilors.

"I have spoken with the General in question," Sparatus retorted, "and while it is true that he ordered Turian vessels to respond to an incident with the 314 Relay, we do not have substantial evidence to prove-"

"Yes, yes, we lack the required proof to convinced us to actually to our jobs," Benezia said dryly. "I get that enough from the other Matriarchs, I really don't need to hear it from you."

"Benezia, we all know that you didn't come here just to criticize us," Tevos said, "what do you want?"

"As I said, I am arranging a diplomatic party to meet with these aliens, if the scraps of information from the computers that were salvaged from the ships destroyed at the 314 Relay are anything to go by they call themselves the Coalition." She grimaced, "However, I find myself lacking a key component, the ability to talk to them. I have no data on any Coalition language and a peace envoy that doesn't know how to speak is a very useless thing indeed."

She looked up at the Council, "Lieutenant Victus informed me that all information that the surviving ships had gathered from their attack on the Coalition colony was handed over to you, including intercepted communications. With that data I should be able to program our translators so that I could speak with the Coalition. I would greatly appreciate it if you gave me access to a copy of that data." Benezia looked like asking the Council for help in her time of need was causing her great physical pain.

"In other words, you are asking us to approve this little operation of yours," Veemus said bluntly.

"My group consists of my own personal cruiser and four escort ships, all of them crewed by my own followers, who volunteered for this mission. You have nothing to lose."

"Councilors I beg of you, give Matriarch Benezia the data that she needs," Victus pleaded. "I have seen the destructive force these aliens, this Coalition posses first hand. If we do not make peace with them now, then a bloody war will be inevitable."

"This is absurd, both of you are jumping to conclusions that have yet to be-" Sparatus was cut off by a loud beeping noise. Looking down at the source, he raised up his omni-tool and typed in a command and a recording began to play.

"Councilor, three minutes ago we received a transmission from outpost 35-g," a voice said.

"35-g?" Victus muttered. "That is one of our resupply space stations. It is on the border of Turian space, near the...oh Spirits."

"The outpost sent out an SOS, it is under attack by a technologically superior enemy and is requesting reinforcements. They are taking heavy casualties. What are your orders?"

Spartacus stared down at his omni-tool in horror. "It looks like the Coalition decided to bite back." All three of the Councilors looked up at Benezia, who was shooting daggers at them. "Some advice, if you don't want any more dead Turians, send me the translation data."

XXXXX

Vice-Admiral Marcus narrowed his eyes as he took a step forward on the bridge of his new dreadnought, the Everest, which had been given to him as a result of the alien attack. After the attack on Shanxi, more ships had been folded into his fleet, bringing the total number up to forty. Half of them had been left behind to defend Shanxi from further attacks, but he now possessed a type of ship that he had not had at his disposal at Shanxi. The Coalition battlecruiser, a ship designed to hit enemy lines fast and hard.

He frowned as he looked at the view screen at the far end of the bridge. It was showing an alien space station in the distance along with fourteen warships. However, only ten of the ships were actually in a battle formation, the remaining four were still docked with the station. "Report," Marcus said grimly.

"It looks like they're still responding to us coming out of FTL, they're still getting into formation and the docked ships barely even have a skeleton crew," a Standard-Human navigator reported. "Looks like we caught them with their pants down, they don't even have anything heavier than a cruiser."

"That may be the case, but still we have no reason to be careless. We are still dealing with a force that we do not fully comprehend." Marcus looked at the base, taking in his opposition. Coalition technicians had managed to salvage a few bits of data from the alien computers before every last piece of captured equipment had been shipped back to Big Mountain. That data hadn't revealed much, but it had given the Coalition the location of an alien outpost within striking distance of Shanxi. Marcus had received orders to attack and destroy the outpost to prevent it from being used as a launch pad for another invasion.

"Focus main cannon fire on the center of their ranks," Marcus ordered, "long range bombardment, don't move any closer than you have to. Punch a hole in their defenses and then have the battlecruisers move through it and destroy the base before ordering them to execute an FTL jump along with the rest of the fleet."

"But sir," the navigator said, "what if there are still intact alien ships after the station is destroyer? Are we supposed to just let them go after what they did to Shanxi?" He man had anger in his voice.

"I understand your frustration, but our orders are to destroy this outpost and nothing more. I will not risk the lives of my men to accomplish unnecessary goals."

"But sir!" the navigator turned in his chair to look at the massive green Meta-Human, "we outnumber these bastards 2 to 1, we have a dreadnought and battlecruisers while they have nothing! This isn't a question of superior tactics, we just brought more ships to the party than they did! We can easily wipe out all of them and-"

"And what would that accomplish?" Marcus asked, his voice stern and level. "Destroying the station will cause all of the ships present to retreat which will remove them from the area, thus preventing another incursion against Shanxi. That is our objective here. If we remain to destroy enemy vessels, we will win but not without taking unnecessary causalities. What is more, the longer that we wait here the more likely it is that these aliens will receive reinforcements that will be capable of inflicting heavy damage on this fleet. Are you willing to take all of these risks simply to satisfy an irrational emotional impulse of anger and a desire for revenge, both of which are feelings that will fade with time?"

Marcus' voice wasn't angry, in fact it sounded more like he was lecturing a disobedient child. "We are soldiers. We fight because we must, not for personal pleasure. Do you understand?"

"I...yes sir," the navigator said, turning back to his terminal. "Relaying your orders now."

Marcus nodded as he watched his ships open fire on the enemy fleet, metal slugs from their mass accelerators tearing through three of the forward most ships, causing them to explode in balls of fire, leaving nothing but bits of debris floating through space.

'So much has changed...yet so little has changed at the same time,' Marcus thought as he watched the enemy fleet return fire, destroying one of his frigates in the process. 'I led the Mutant Equality Movement, we managed to escape our dying world and find new ones. We managed to unite under a single banner...and now we are a war again for reasons we don't even now...just like during the Great War.'

The alien fleet began to spread out as the Coalition ships fired another volley, destroying two more of their ships. "Now! Order the battlecruisers forward!" Marcus shouted. As he did, five vessels tore forward at speeds that put frigates to shame, heading through the gap that the bombardment had created.

Marcus watched quietly as the battlecruisers closed in on the station before firing two missile pods a piece, sending hundreds of missiles at the station. Automated laser defense systems opened fire on the incoming missiles but there were simply too many and the defenses didn't have enough time. They impacted on the hull by the dozens, tearing away at the hull and breaching the main core that powered the station. The battlecruisers flew past the station at it exploded in a massive ball of fire, which expanded outward and even consumed an alien frigate that had been too close to the station.

"All ships, mission accomplished!" Marcus shouted, "retreat now!" On his cue, the other ships made jumps to FTL, quickly leaving the area until Marcus' ship made its own jump.

"Jump successful, ETA to Shanxi, 18 hours," a navigator reported.

"Very good," Marcus said before turning and walking away. "Send a full report of the battle to my quarters, I want to know exactly how much damage we did and how many men that we lost." He left without another word.

'Is this our fate?' he wondered as he stepped through the halls of the dreadnaught, 'to never escape the endless cycle of war? Can we ever break free? Will we ever not need rain death upon another to survive?' He sighed. 'So much has changed, technology has advanced to levels I never thought possible, as has culture. But...no matter how advanced we become, it seems that we always find a way to fight someone else. War...war never changes, it seems."

XXXXX

Coalition Battlecruiser: Another ship whose name does not come from Pre-War naval vessels, the battlecruiser is in many ways the polar opposite of the destroyer. It too has had its spinal mounted gun removed, but instead of replacing it with a tesla cannon, the leftover power is diverted to the engines, making the battlecruiser one of the fastest ships made by the Coalition. The battlecruiser instead uses newly developed missile pods, each one capable of firing dozens of guided missiles at once. Each battlecruiser posses twenty of these missile pods, which can be loaded not only with ballistic missiles, but also nuclear ones and disruptor torpedoes. While these alternative options are very expensive, the Coalition has been known to authorize them to destroy particularly resilient targets.

However, as the battlecruiser lacks a mass accelerator, it is completely helpless at any range farther away from enemy vessels than knife fight territory. Its missiles are prone to being shot down by enemy laser defense systems, and the farther away it is from the target at the time it fires its weapons, the more time the enemy vessel will have to shoot them down. At any range from moderate to long, too many missiles will be picked off to cause any significant damage. It is because of this that the battlecruiser is equipped with such powerful engines, allowing it to close distance with hostile targets at a fast rate before opening fire and retreating.

The Mutant Equality Movement: In the early 24th century, when Protect Exodus was still in its infancy stages, there was still a high amount of anti-mutant feelings among the people of post-war Earth. In some places, such as the Royal British Empire and the Vatican, they were fairly well accepted, while in others, like the Washington Confederacy and the New California Republic, there were a large amount of anti-mutant policies and hate crimes.

The Mutant Equality Movement was a peaceful protest organization started by a Meta-Human known as Marcus, a veteran of the Master's Army who decided to stand up and attempt to create a world where all intelligent beings lived in equality. Meta-Humans and Necro-Humans quickly fell under his banner, many of them having been victims of discrimination in the past. Macrus also received support from Washington Confederacy war heroes, the Necro-Human Charon and the Meta-Human Fawkes.

Initially, they faced heavy opposition from the general public and the various Post-War governments. However, the Lone Wanderer and the Courier began to put pressure on their respective governments to meet the requests present by the movement, speaking publicly along with Marcus. Their status helped sway the view of the general public and helped pass laws to ensure the equality of mutants in the NCR and Washington Confederacy, causing a domino effect for the rest of the post-war nations that still had anti-mutant policies. Anti-mutant groups still exist today, but they are much fewer and smaller than they were in the day of the movement, and the terms "Zombie" and "Frankenstein" are considered highly derogatory racial slurs.

Big Mountain (Big MT): Formally a massive Pre-War research facility, Big Mountain is now the center hub for all Coalition projects. One day, while exploring the wasteland, the Courier accidentally discovered the facility and was pulled into a war between the scientists of the facility's Think Tank, who had stored their brains in robots to survive, culminating in her killing the head scientist in defense, but befriending the rest.

Years later, the Courier would lead a brigade of NCR soldiers in an invasion of Big Mountain, to clear out the threats in the facility, of which there where many, and retake it. The Battle of Big Mountain lasted three days, in which many soldiers were killed and much of the research accumulated by the scientists where lost, but the NCR was victorious, managing to capture the facility and a few vital pieces of technology, mostly relating to stealth suits and A.I.s

Today, Big Mountain has been completely rebuilt and plays home to the finest minds of the Coalition, who work with the scientists of the Think Tank. If a groundbreaking technological achievement is made, there is a good chance that it originated from the scientists at Big MT. The specific details of what goes on within the walls of the facility are kept secret from the general public, although one passer by did hear the Courier shouting at her husband "I talked to my (censored) brain! And it had an attitude!" while they were comparing their adventures.

XXXXX

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Looking back at this years later, I'm a little worried that I might have made the Council too stupid. Granted they did ignore the Reapers until the last second, so this isn't too much of a stretch, but if I were writing this story nowadays I probably wouldn't take this approach. Well, I hope you enjoyed it!


	7. Uneasy Offer

"It looks like you didn't have a whole lot of trouble," General Williams said. He was sitting in the briefing room of the dreadnaught Everest, in a chair right across from the one that Marcus was sitting in. "I'm glad to know that my home isn't going to be bombed anytime soon, thank you Admiral."

Marcus nodded his head slightly, "I was merely doing my duty General, as were you when Shanxi was attacked."

"Yeah, I guess that I was." A sly grin crossed Williams' face, "it wouldn't have hurt if you had decided to show up a little bit sooner."

Marcus gave a soft chuckle. "You sound as if you want me to do all of your work for you Williams."

"Ow," the General said, wincing in an overly dramatic manner, "talk about hitting below the belt. So, did you manage to salvage any data about these aliens from the station?"

Before Marcus could reply, his COM unit beeped. "Yes?" he said, putting his hand to his ear. "WHAT! More alien ships!" Williams nearly jumped out of his skin as he hastily scrambled to his feet, his hand instinctively flying to the hilt of his sword. "Wait, what do you mean they're not charging weapons? The design is different? They're hailing us? Very well, I'm on my way to the bridge, until I get there do not do anything that would present us as hostile."

"What's going on?"

"Five ships just entered the system, just out of weapon range. But it doesn't look like the same aliens as the ones that attacked us, what's more they're actually attempting to contact us."

"There's more than one alien race out there?" Williams said. "Maybe...maybe they're at war with the race that attacked us. Maybe those aliens are like the ancient Mongolians and conquer everything they see for loot, and now these new guys want an alliance to fight them off."

"That is a possibility," Marcus said as the two of them ran out of the briefing room, heading for the bridge. "But then again I can think of six different scenarios that are just as likely off of the top of my head. We will have to see what they want with us." They dashed through a room containing a massive map of the galaxy and entered the bridge.

"Are they still hailing us?" Marcus asked.

"Yeah," a Necro-Human navigator said, turning in his seat to face him, "and it seems like they're kind of getting impatient. Should I put them on screen?"

"Please do so," Marcus said, turning his head to look at the viewscreen, which was currently showing the five alien ships. He had just enough time to take note of the odd circular design before it was replaced by the image of, Marcus actually rubbed his eyes to make sure that he was seeing this correctly, a blue alien that closely resembled a Standard female Human in a black robe and headdress.

"Greetings," she said in a powerful but polite voice, "I am Matriarch Benezia of the Asari Republics. I have come here personally to apologize for the aggressive acts against you by our close ally, the Turian Hierarchy."

"Turians?" Marcus asked, "is that the name of the species that attacked us?"

Benezia nodded, "Once again, I apologize for their actions, which were justified from their point of view."

"Not to be rude lady, but hundreds of my men are dead because of that attack," Williams said, looking and sounding fairly angry, "exactly how did they think that they were doing the right thing?"

Marcus shot a glare at Williams, but Benezia didn't seemed phased. "I do not blame you for being angry Mr..."

"Brigadier General Williams."

"Vice-Admiral Marcus," the Meta-Human added.

"Mr. Williams, I understand that you are angry, and for reasons that I find to be perfectly rational. You see, both the Asari and the Turians are part of a galactic community known as the Council. Thousands of years ago, explorers opened a Mass Relay and accidentally released a race of insects called the Rachni onto the galaxy. They were hostile and caused a bloody war that lasted for centuries. Because of this, the Council outlawed activating Mass Relays without approval. What is more, the Turians are the main military and law enforcement force of the Council, and-"

"And when they saw the Coalition trying to activate the Shanxi Relay they jumped into action," Williams said bitterly.

"Yes," Benezia said, "without proper authorization from the Council. Do you understand now why these attacks happened?"

"Yeah," Williams said gruffly, "it doesn't mean that I have to be happy about it, but if the soldiers that attacked us didn't have approval from your leaders then I can't hold it against you."

"I only expected a reasonable reaction General, not a miracle," Benezia said, barely holding back a small smile.

"So we won't be experiencing any further conflict?" Marcus asked.

"I am doing everything in my power to ensure that, while the Council has made no formal move to declare war against you, it may help the situation greatly if you accompany me to negotiate with them personally."

"Wait a minute, go back a bit," Williams said. "You said that you were part of a galactic community. Exactly how many other species are a part of this thing?"

"Perhaps it would be for the best if I were to simply explain the Council as a whole. Would that be acceptable?" Both Williams and Marcus exchanged glances before nodding. "Very well, the Council was founded over 2,500 years ago by my race and a species known as the Salarians to create a governing body to unite the various races of the galaxies. Over the years more and more species joined, the Volus, the Hanar, the Elcor, and the Batarians just to name a few."

"The Council is led by a board comprised of representatives of all of the member races, one for each. Member races are species that have proven themselves to be invaluable to the galactic community as a whole, earning them Council privileges. No race holds complete power over another, because no race is strong enough to defy the wishes of all the other races."

"Kind of sounds like how the Coalition was formed," Williams said, looking at Marcus again, "different nations working together."

"I am glad to see that you are familiar with the concept," Benezia said, "although I should have guessed that you were considering that you are clearly familiar with alien races working together."

"I suppose that we-wait what?" Marcus said, looking confused. "What do you mean by that? The Turians were the first alien race that we ever encountered."

Know it was Benezia's turn to look confused. "But you two are clearly not of the same race, yet you work within the same military don't you?"

Understanding dawned on Marcus' face. "Ah, I understand. General Williams is part of a race called Human, and I myself am Human. Or at least I used to be. My associate here was also a Human once," he added, pointing to the Necro-Human navigator, who gave a nervous wave to Benezia. "I suppose that Deathclaws are a completely different species that Human, but since we are from the same planet, they cannot be classified as aliens."

"You all come from the same homeworld?" Benezia looked as if she was having a hard time grasping the information that had just been given to her.

"Yes, Williams is a Standard-Human, that is a Human that has not experienced any major genetic reconstruction. I am a Meta-Human a Human that was exposed to a chemical called the Forced Evolutionary Virus to become what I am today. My associate is a Necro-Human, like me his DNA was radically altered, but Necro-Humans are the result of being exposed to radiation. Both Meta and Necro-Humans are sterile, but our populations are sustained through artificial wombs. Deathclaws used to be a relatively harmless animal, but they were genetically engineered by Pre-War scientists and then exposed to Force Evolutionary Virus and," Marcus stopped suddenly, realizing what he was doing. "I apologize, I am going rather fast."

"It is understandable, I imagine what you are telling me is common knowledge among your own people," Benezia said, trying to hide that the explosion of information that she had just heard had been slightly overwhelming. One thing had stuck out to her through. "Forgive me, but did you say something about Pre-War scientists? What do you mean by Pre-War?"

"Well, you see over 600 years ago, the nations of Earth, our homeworld, had not discovered space travel yet and were pushing the planet to its breaking point. Entire wars had been fought over patches of resources and tensions had never been higher. Eventually, it became too much and nuclear weapons were launched from all over the planet, causing-" Marcus trailed off. Benezia's eyes had widened in shock at the words "nuclear weapons". "I take it that most other Council races did not engage in nuclear warfare?"

"There was one race, but they only managed to develop space travel because we gave them the required technology. Are you saying that you had a nuclear war and then managed to develop space travel afterwards?"

"Yes, we did," Williams said. "Is that a big deal?" 

"It is," Benezia replied, "the race that we uplifted was incredibly aggressive and expansive because their culture wasn't as advanced as their new technology. If you managed to-" Benezia shook her head, "I am sorry, if I was to explain everything I need to tell you it would take hours. Perhaps it would be easier if we simply sent each other information on our respective governments and history?"

"That would make things easier for both of us," Marcus replied, "I hope that you do not mind if I restrict the information I send you. I cannot give away Coalition military secrets to a race that I just met without authorization from my superiors, even if you are well intentioned."

Benezia gave a small laugh. "You need not worry Vice-Admiral, I will be doing the same myself. I hope that you do not mind that I will also be sending a report of what I learn back to the Council. They are still in disbelief over what has happened in the past few days, and I would like to confirm having made peaceful contact."

"I see no reasons why I would oppose that."

"Good. Also, I was hoping that you could send an ambassador to meet the Council personally. They are the center of galactic politics, and the sooner that friendly ties are established, the sooner that the Coalition can establish an embassy. What is more it will ensure that there are not further incidents between you and the Turians."

"I appreciate the offer Matriarch, but sadly that is not a decision that is my choice to make. I will look over the information that you send me before contact my superiors. When they have made their choice on the matter I will contact you again. I must warn you though, it will most likely take some time, possibly even a day or two. I am not sure if you will want to return to your own territory or-"

"I will remain here," Benezia said firmly, "I cleared up my schedule so that I could remain here for weeks if I have to. Making sure that first contact with a new race goes well takes priority over my other duties. Shall I begin transferring data now?"

"Yes, please do so. I shall do the same."

"Very well Vice-Admiral. If you wish to speak with me again, do you hesitate to contact me, Benezia out." Marcus watched as the Asari's image disappeared from the screen, to be replaced with a view of the five alien ships.

"Well that went better than I thought it would," Williams admitted.

"Indeed," Marcus said before turning to face the navigator. "Send a message to Mars, tell them everything that you heard and send them a copy of the data that we're receiving. Also, inform them that I highly urge that there be no further military action against the Turians until further notice. But before you do any of that, send all civilian level data that we have about our history, culture and the Coalition to the Matriarch's ship."

"Understood," the navigator said. "Sir, we've begun receiving data."

"Well then," Marcus said, picking up a datapad that was on top of the navigator's console and activating it before connecting it to the ship's main computer. "I had better get reading."

"I'll help you out with that," Williams said, picking up another datapad and doing the same. "The galaxy just got a whole lot more crowed, I want to know who we're rubbing elbows with."

XXXXX

On Earth in the southwest section of the old United States, there was a massive crater far away from any post-war settlement. Many had once thought that it had been the crater left by the detonation of a nuclear warhead, but that had turned out to be far from the truth. The crater played a home to the Big Mountain research facility, which was now guarded on all sides by Coalition forces.

From a distance, passers by could see that the various buildings had been repaired and if they were lucky they could catch the occasional scientist walking by. What most people didn't know is that countless sub-levels had been added to the facility. Only the most basic and lightly classified research were conducted on the surface, the more sensitive materials were handled at lower levels. The Coalition security was very strict at Big Mountain and visitors, even ones that had been invited, usually went through long and complicated screening processes to get to the sub-levels. One very frustrated Necro-Human was finding this out the hard way.

"I just need to scan your eye and take a blood sample sir."

"I've already done that five times!" Raul Tejada shouted in frustration. He was standing just outside of an elevator with thick black doors at the end of a long brightly lit hallway. A Standard-Human human was standing in front of him with an active omni-tool and a DNA scanner, two soldiers standing behind him.

"I'm sorry sir, this is standard procedure."

"But I-oh all right, just get it over with. I was supposed to meet with Dr. Mobius three hours ago before I got bogged down with all of this." Raul leaned forward and the guard raised his omni-tool, a small yellow orb floating up and scanning his eye.

"Identity confirmed, Ambassador Raul Tejada," a soft mechanical voice reported. He guard then held out the DNA scanner, which had a small spike at the end. Grimacing, Raul held out his thumb and pricked it, drawing a drop of blood. The guard held up the device and looked at the analysis before nodding in approval.

"Dr. Mobius is in lab three, analyzing the captured equipment."

"Thank you," Raul said, resisting the urge to use every swear in all the languages that he knew as he walked past the guard and down the hallway. He walked for a solid minute before turning left and walking through a doorway into a wide open room filled to the brim with equipment and scientists.

"BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" an over the top voice roared, "Once I tap into the secrets of this technology, NO ONE WILL BE ABLE TO STOP ME!"

"Yup, that's Dr. Mobius, crazy hijo de puta," Raul muttered as he walked towards the center of a lab, where a floating robot with three monitors extended out was floating in front of a table that was covered with capture alien equipment. All of it had been sent to Big Mountain from Shanxi to be studied

"HA! Excellent!" Mobius cackled, "Finally, I have managed to shatter the firewalls protecting the precious data of these computers! It was difficult, it was so alien it was like it was designed by...aliens! But they could not withstand my SCIENCE!"

"Yes Dr. Mobius," A man in a white lab coat with shadows under his eyes said dryly, "the world will tremble at your feet."

"The world? THE WORLD? The entire galaxy will be at my mercy!"

"Excuse me," Raul said, "I was asked to come here by Dr. Mobius, he said that he had made some sort of breakthrough. How is he doing by the way?"

"Mobius?" the scientist asked, turning to look at Raul as Mobius continued ranting about conquering the galaxy. "He's doing better. Our medical technology has advanced to the point where we can repair minor damage to the brain. We can't cure a bullet hole, but it's enough to repair the corrosion that he's been suffering. He still needs to shoot up on Mentats to actually accomplish anything, needs to record everything that he discovers, and he's still rather absentminded when he calms down, but he's a lot better than he used to be."

"Is there any chance that I can talk to him?"

"All right, I'll cut off the Mentat flow," the scientist said, activating his omni-tool and typing in some commands."

"No one will be able to stop-what? What is this feeling?"

"Flushing the residue out of the biogel and done," the scientist said, lowering his arm. "He's actually a pretty nice guy, when he's not tripping on that crap. When he is though...we seriously need to get ear plugs down here."

"I...I...oh, what am I doing here?" Mobius said, "wait a moment, what's this?" A claw reached forward and grabbed a datapad off of the table, holding it in front of Mobius' monitors? "Did I do this? Well, that was rather clever of me if I do say so myself. Although I'm sure I had plenty of help from the bright fellows that work here, such nice people."

"Dr.? You wanted to speak to me?" Raul said, looking at the floating think tank.

"Raul? Is that you?" Mobius asked, turning to look at the Necro-Human. "My dear friend, it's good to see you again. I haven't seen you in five years...or was it two. Hold on...I know that you visited when I attempted to design a vertibird with a cloaking device...but where you there for the test flight. I think you were...or was that someone else?"

"Dr. What is it you wanted to speak to me about?"

"I wanted to speak to you? Hold on, I probably wrote it down." Mobius flicked through the various notes that he had taken down. "Ah yes, I managed to break through the firewalls around the alien computers and omni-tools that you captured. I was able to learn quite a bit about the race that attacked us."

"Like what?"

"It appears that they use technology completely identical to what we found on Mars...or was it Neptune? No, no wait it was Mars, it says so right here. The odd thing about the technology the alien's use is not only is it completely identical to the Martian cache, that is all the technology that they have."

"I'm sorry, I don't follow."

"Well you see, we integrated a lot of pre-war technology with Prothean technology...at least that's what I wrote down. It says that omni-tools and new computers replaced pip-boys and those old monitors that we used to use, but we still use some old war technology to great affect, such as robots, energy weapons and the Forced Evolutionary Virus...I think."

"What are you trying to say Dr.?"

"Hold on a minute, the point must be in here somewhere," Mobius said, scrolling down through his notes again. "Ah, here it is. I believe...at least I think I do, that these aliens suffer from creative sterility."

"Creative sterility? What do you mean by that?"

"It says here that there is no indication that these aliens have any form of technology that isn't based off of Prothean technology, meaning that they are limited to operating within the field opened up by that particular science and no others."

"So, what you're saying is that we have an edge over them in terms of technology," Raul concluded. "That's good to hear."

"I suppose that it is," Mobius said uncertainly, "I think you know what you're talking about, I'm not quite sure."

"Dr. maybe it would be for the best if you were to lie down for a little," the scientist suggested.

"What?" Mobius asked, turning to look at him. "I...yes, I suppose that I do feel a little under the weather. But before I do, would you like a Mentat? They're absolutely delightful."

"I'm fine Dr., now go lie down."

"I am feeling rather tired," Mobius said, slowly floating away, letting out a yawn as he did.

"I am not upset that the boss didn't bring me here the first time around," Raul muttered.

"Sir?" the scientist asked.

"Never mind. Well, I guess I might as well stick around for awhile to see if there's anything else here that I should know about, after all I am the one who keeps important Coalition officials informed about these kinds of-" Raul was cut off as the scientist's omni-tool beeped.

"Just a moment sir," he said before activating his omni-tool again. "That's...that's odd," he said as he read it.

"What is it?"

"It's a message from the Coalition brass. They're saying that they need you for a mission of some kind and that they need you to leave immediately. They will be men waiting on the surface to tell you what you need to know and where you need to go."

"Well then, sorry to leave so soon," Raul said before turning and walking towards the exit.

"By the way ambassador, it's only fair to warn you that the security has been upgraded since you were last here. You need to have your identity confirmed going out now too."

"JODER!"

XXXXX

"Do you really expect me to take that seriously?" Charon said, frowning slightly.

"I am merely shedding light on the subject, many believe that Humans were created by the Protheans," Adam replied. The two of them were sitting at a cafe within the Shanxi colony, along with Hannah and Fawkes.

"There is some evidence to support that idea," Fawkes said, staring at Adam. "That base on Mars must have been there for a reason, and there was no evidence of heavy mining or agriculture on any major body in the Sol system, they must have been there for research. They may have been planning to use us for war, or free labor, or possibly even objects of pleasure. We may never know."

Charon gave Fawkes a friendly elbow. "I swear, you spend way too much reading philosophical essays. Someone just needs to point out a quirk about everyday stuff to get you going on a rant about the nature of life and the balance of the universe." Charon shook his head slightly. "The kid really rubbed off on you didn't he?"

Fawkes grinned widely, looking at Charon. "And he did not affect you at all? You are not the same person that you were when I met you my old friend, and I know that he played a great role in that."

Charon grinned slightly. "Yeah, I guess you have a point there." As he spoke, Charon reached into his pocket and pulled out a few scraps of torn yellowing paper. He looked at the torn remains of his contract, fond memories filling his mind. "Damn brat always did have a way of seeing things from a different point of view. Wonder what he'd be doing if-," Charon shook his head, "never mind."

"I understand," Fawkes said softly.

"Are you two ok?" Hannah asked, concern in her voice.

"We're fine, two old soldiers are just getting a little caught up in their memories," Charon said. "Anyway Hannah, what do you think about that little theory?"

"What the-oh right," she said, a little taken aback but the sudden change in subject, but deciding not to push it. She had learned from experience that intruding in on sensitive personal matters was a lot like poking an open wound. "It doesn't make that much sense to me. There's evidence of Humans existing long before the Prothean base on Mars was built. I think that they just found us and were studying us from a distance, after all at that point there would've been primitive societies on Earth. Maybe they were keeping an eye on us to see how we were developing, maybe they thought that some day down the line we would've gotten into space by ourselves, after all the Protheans can't have been the only species around during their time."

"I agree," Charon said, "it makes so much more sense that way, but Frankenstein here just loves to go on about how we're all dust in the wind or how we're all inconsequential in the grand scheme of reality."

"Those two are the same concepts," Fawkes pointed out.

"Shut it Fawkes," Charon replied, a little too quickly. "Anyway Adam, are you honestly going to say that the Protheans making us is more likely than them just studying us?"

"As I said before, I was merely telling you that it is what some people believe," Adam replied, "truth be told my own views on the matter are somewhat closer to your own. I simply like reminding myself and those around me that there are multiple points of view on every subject."

"You mean like why water is wet? Are there multiple ways of explaining that?"

"Well, in certain parts of-"

"That was a rhetorical question," Charon said dryly.

"I know, but I had an answer for it anyway," Adam said teasingly.

"God, you're just as bad as the kid." Charon shook his head as he grabbed the glass of water in front of him and took a sip.

"Sounds like someone can't handle being beaten in an argument," Hannah said slyly.

"Whose side are you on again?"

"Excuse me?" All four of them turned to see a female Necro-Human wearing a Shanxi uniform with officer's bars standing right next to their table. "Are you Hannah Shepard, Adam Anderson, Fawkes and Charon?"

"We are," Adam said politely, "how can we assist you?"

"Is it true that all four of you took part in Shanxi's defense when it was invaded around a week ago?"

"Yes, why do you ask?" Hannah said.

"I was ordered by Vice-Admiral Marcus to gather as many veterans from the invasion as possible, he needs people with combat experience."

"What for?" Charon asked.

"An escort mission. Concerning the alien presence, there has been a massive change."

"What kind of-" Hannah began before she was interrupted.

"I'm not at liberty to give you very much information, all I can tell you is this." She gently placed a datapad that she was holding on the middle of the table. "Please understand that this mission is voluntary only, choosing to read that data though it is the same as accepting it. That information is very highly classified and we don't want it being leaked out just yet, so I only can have you looking at it if you accept this mission. I have also been ordered to tell you that it will take you into an unknown territory and we are not certain if it will be dangerous or not."

Charon looked around at the rest of the group. "I'm a Ranger, it's my job to go into dangerous situations, you can count me in."

"If you are going my friend, then I will be at your side," Fawkes declared.

"God, I'm supposed to be a Navy navigator and I haven't been on a ship in a week," Hannah pointed out. "And I don't think I will be anytime soon, you've got my attention."

"Well, I feel like I've been put on the spot," Adam said playfully. "I'll accept this mission if I must, after all I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if you were harmed while I kept my self safe."

"Well, we're all in, what kind of mission is this?" Charon asked.

"About twelve hours ago, five alien vessels entered this system and hailed one of our ships." She saw Hannah was about to shout out and hastily held up a hand, earning silence from her. "I can understand that you might be surprised, but the situation is different then what you might imagine. They initiated peaceful contact."

"What?" all four of them exclaimed.

"I'm sorry but I don't have much time to explain, the Coalition is considering sending an ambassador to negotiate with these aliens, all the information that you are allowed to know is on that datapad. You leave at 0800 tomorrow. Also if you should happen to leak that information without authorization, you will be charged with treason." With that, the officer turned and left.

"Just like old times huh Fawkes?" Charon asked, "we keep getting ourselves pulled into these situations."

XXXXX

CODEX UPDATED

ENTRIES ADDED

Coalition Drugs: Many types of chemicals from Pre and Post-war are still commonly seen and used in modern society. Physco and Med-X are commonly used by most medical facilities and the military, although Med-X is sometimes illegally traded as a controlled substance. Mentats are illegal in most situations unless they are approved by a doctor, and are commonly sold by drug dealers. Buffout was outlawed when it was discovered to be highly addictive and harmful. Jet is the most popular and expensive drug in the modern black market, even finding popularity among aliens. Ant Queen pheromones where outlawed after it was discovered that they caused sever damage to the brain, the demand for it on the black market is low.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, another day another update. I hope that you're enjoying the story.
> 
> I'd like to thank my Patrons SuperFeatherYoshi, xXNanamiXx, and Ryan Van Schaack for their amazing support.


	8. Clash of Interests

"Well, this is certainly interesting," General Williams said as he sharpened his longsword, "never thought that I'd help initiate first contact with an alien race." He looked up, "Remind me again why I'm here? I'm much better at shooting and stabbing things than making friends with them."

"I must question my presence here as well," Marcus said, before placing an assault rifle on his back.

"Parliament wanted both of you because you've had the most experience in dealing with the Turians," Raul replied. All three of them were standing in the airlock of the Everest. The ship had left Shanxi, along with the rest of the fleet there, to head to the coordinates Matriarch Benezia had given them. Mere minutes ago, they had arrived at a massive space station called the Citadel which was protected by a joint fleet of the member races.

"Marcus is the only one here who did any talking, the only time I got up close to an alien I was shoving this into his gut," Williams shook his sword to get his point across.

"That's more experience than every other person in the Coalition," Raul replied, "the brass wants as many people on top of this as possible, I probably got thrown in because of my reputation." He grunted, "Hope this doesn't start another war. I don't think that they're going to like what Parliament told us to tell them."

"Well, maybe its for the best that we don't sugar coat it for these guys, maybe they should know exactly who they're dealing with and not get someone to tell them what they want to hear. Putting on a facade for them will end badly no matter what way you spin it."

"A rather blunt way of putting things General, but I suppose that we'll find out if you have a point. For better or worse," Raul said. As he did, a clanging noise filled the room. "The docking sequence is finished," Raul muttered, "our guards should be waiting for us outside." As he spoke, the airlock slid open and the three of them stepped out.

They emerged onto one of the docks of the Citadel, which was one of the five long arms that made up the station. "Son of a bitch," Williams swore, looking to the left. A fleet of warships of various designs was floating in front of the Citadel. The Coalition fleet could be seen opposing it, and it was clear that the Council fleet was easily three times bigger. However, his eyes were drawn to a completely massive dreadnought that dwarfed the Everest, which resembled a cross with a glowing blue core.

He whistled, "Gotta give these guys credit, they do a good job of keeping this place defended. Then again it could just be them waving their dicks around."

"How very crude," Marcus remarked. The three of them continued to walk across the dock to where a platoon of Coalition forces where standing, waiting for them.

"Geez, we went all out didn't we?" Williams asked looking through the platoon, "Light and heavy infantry, a Ranger, Stalkers and Mr. Gutsies."

"At your service sir!" one of the floating robots declared, holding a clawed arm up in a a salute.

"I thought that we were here to introduce ourselves, not start a war," Williams continued, glancing at Raul.

"Considering they have a fleet of over a hundred warships and all of those men over there, I'm more concerned that we didn't bring enough." Raul pointed as he spoke and Williams turned to see dozens aliens of different species in blue armor at the opposite end of the dock, looking at them nervously. "Speak of the devil." One of the aliens in blue armor walked forward, an Asari.

She stopped in front of the Coalition platoon, looking at them uncertainly. "Who is in charge here?"

"That would be me," Raul said, stepping forward.

"The Council is waiting for you," the Asari said slowly "I can take you to them if you want. Your...your condition isn't contagious, is it?"

"What condition, I don't-" Raul stopped mid-sentence and looked down at his raw and mutated skin. "Ah, that. Don't worry, I won't harm anyone around me."

"That...that is good to hear. We should get going now."

Raul nodded. "Then lead on." The Asari turned around and began to walk towards the exit to the dock, the rest of the Coalition soldiers and aliens following. "Are you military?"

"Not exactly, I'm with Citadel Security Services, or C-Sec. We're the police force aboard the Citadel."

"You are very heavily armed for police officers," Marcus observed, "some of you have assault rifles and shotguns."

"The Citadel is the center of all galactic politics as well as a place of commerce and has millions of people living on it," the Asari explained, "it attracts some unwanted attention. Like all societies it has an underbelly of criminals and it can get pretty nasty in some of the lower wards."

"Does it? Please, go on."

As Marcus and the Asari continued to talk, Raul fell behind and into step with Charon and Fawkes, who were among the guards, along with Hannah and Adam. "I have to say it's been awhile since I've seen you two."

"How are you holding up you old son of a bitch?" Charon asked

"I'm doing just find you damn pendejo," Raul said.

"Really? Then how come you're still carrying around that freaking antique?"

Raul grinned slightly and pushed back the dark blue robe that he was wearing, revealing a light infantry combat vest and a holster. A .44 caliber magnum was sticking out of it. "I've hung on to this old thing for centuries, and I'm not going to let it go of it anytime soon. I repair and maintain it daily. I have to scrounge up parts to make my own ammo, but I will stick with this thing until it falls to pieces in my hand or I die."

Charon chuckled, "I've never met someone who's as suborn as you, not even the kid."

"He was all right, the boss liked him enough to marry him."

"Didn't she get shot in the head twice?"

"Give me an instance of when it affected her judgement."

"She married an idiot."

"What makes you say that he's an idiot?"

"He got a piece of his brain cut out."

"Big deal, the boss got her entire brain taken out once."

Charon smirked, "thank you for proving my point."

"Oh you-" A smile spread to Fawke's face, even as a stream of Spanish cuss words flew from Raul's mouth, his mind drifting to fond memories.

XXXXX

"This information cannot be accurate," Councilor Sparatus said, looking at a datapad. "Is this your idea of insulting our intelligence Benezia?"

Benezia's eyebrow twitched slightly as she looked at the Council. "I beg your pardon?"

"This information you received from this Coalition it borders on the absurd. Mutants? Genetically engineered giants and monsters? Machines? One of them alone I might have believed but all together it sounds like you rolled them all together in a desperate attempt to make your discovery of a new species profound," Sparatus said

"I find that rather amusing considering that a couple of days ago you were making an argument that these aliens didn't even exist. What would I stand to gain from lying to you?"

"Try to understand Benezia," Tevos said, "some of the descriptions here are rather outrageous. This data describes the Coalition more like a collection of galactic powers than a single one." She looked up from her own datapad, "are you certain that they're not like us? It would be more likely that there is another organization like the Council than all of these different species coming from the same planet."

"I assure you that-" Benezia stopped as the elevator at the far end of the Presidium slid open. A smile slid across her face as the occupants poured out. "It may be for the best if you ask them yourself. They appear to be a couple of hours early." All three of the Councilors looked up as the group from the elevator approached them. A good deal of the guards from both the Coalition and C-Sec had been forced to remain on the lower levels due to limited elevator space, but the main ambassadors as well as the veteran guards had still gone up.

"I take it you are the Council that we have heard about?" Marcus asked as the group reached the Council, stopping in front of it.

"Yes, we are," Tevos said politely. " We were just going over the data regarding you, we did not get a chance to finish it but I do believe that you can fill in the rest. It is a pleasure to meet you and your people. I am Councilor Tevos, representative of the Asari. My associates are Veemus of the Salarians," she pointed at Veemus to clarify, "and Sparatus of the Turians."

"I am Vice-Admiral Marcus of the Coalition Navy and a Meta-Human."

"Brigadier General Williams and a Standard-Human," Williams added.

"Raul Tejada, Coalition ambassador and a Necro-Human."

"So then," Veemus said uncertainly, "these reports of multiple species originating from a single planet...they're true?"

"Not exactly," Marcus said, "technically Meta-Humans, Necro-Humans and Standard-Humans are all of the same species, it is just that some of us underwent massive structural changes. Necro-Humans were exposed to a massive amount of radiation that causes their appearance as well as ability to heal when exposed to further radiation and inability to die of old age."

"Radiation heals you?" Tevos said, disbelief in her eyes as she looked at Raul.

"Yes it does. It actually kind of feels like a warm bath," Raul remarked.

"And you cannot die of old age?"

'Yeah, I'm around six and a half centuries old."

"Amazing. You're only a century younger than I am."

"Yeah, I guess that I-wait what?"

Tevos blinked before understanding dawned on her face. "You must not have seen it in the data that Benezia sent you, Asari live an average lifespan of one thousand years."

"We have some common ground then, don't we?" Raul said.

"Meta-Humans do as well," Marcus pointed out. "Like Necro-Humans, we do not die of old age. I myself am nearly six centuries old. However, unlike Necro-Humans, we are not the result of mutation, but of a substance called the Forced Evolutionary Virus, which causes us to transform from normal Humans into this. We used to be called Super Mutants, but that title was dropped when it was proven to be rather inaccurate."

"We also have Deathclaws," Marcus continued, pointing to a Stalker that was standing next to him, examining his claws with a bored expression. "They used to be a relatively harmless animal called a chameleon until they were transformed by scientists into what you see today. Like Meta-Humans, they were exposed to the Forced Evolutionary Virus. We also have a large number of robots among our population and our armed forces. This particular model that you see here is called a Mr. Gutsy," he pointed to one of the floating automatons.

"It is rather interesting that a single planet was able to produce a species that has so much variety to it," Veemus remarked, "nothing like this has ever happened before in the history of the Council."

"Well, a nuclear war will do that to you I suppose," Williams remarked, "it kind of forces you to-"

"Nuclear war?!" Sparatus shouted out, causing many of the people present to jump.

"What, you didn't know that?" Williams asked, looking surprised.

"As I said before, we had not had enough time to review the information given to us before you arrived. We were not expecting you to be so early," Tevos said, her eyes wide with shock.

"You mean to tell me that you destroyed your civilization and were able to rebuild it to the point where you were capable of space travel?" Veemus said, looking slightly frightened. "This is very concerning. We have only had one encounter with such a race, and it lead to a bloody war."

"Why did you not tell us about this Benezia?" Sparatus demanded.

"Forgive me, I was too busy trying to convince you that I wasn't lying about other things that I had told you," she hissed.

"So our history including a nuclear war is disturbing to you?" Raul asked.

"Not to be rude, but slightly," Tevos admitted.

"I understand, but I must be honest with you. Admiral Marcus and I did extensive research on the Council today and shared our findings with the Coalition Parliament. We found several of the things that we learned about the Council to be uncomfortable."

"Uncomfortable?" Sparatus said, "you just told us that you nuked your own civilization, and now you're telling us that we make you feel uncomfortable?"

"Sparatus please," Tevos said. "We are attempting to make peaceful contact here." She turned to look at Raul. "If you have any concerns, please tell us, we will do our best to address them."

Raul turned to look at Marcus and gave a brisk nod, prompting the Meta-Human to take a step forward. "First of all, before I continue, I must ask you a question. Do you wish for us to join the Council?"

The Councilors exchanged looks. "...Yes," Veemus said hesitantly. "That has been the tradition for thousands of years, all young races join the Council so that they can be guided as they develop."

"Yes, I thought so. But, how do I put this. Some of the Coalition's leaders are concerned that becoming a part of the Council might not be in our best interest."

"Not in your best interest?" Sparatus nearly shouted, "why not? We have kept the galaxy safe since we were founded. We defeated the Rachni and the Krogan, two races that threatened to overwhelm the galaxy."

"That is true," Marcus admitted, "but there are certain qualities about the Council that give us cause for concern." He reached for his side and took a datapad that was hanging there, holding it up to eye level. "While you did indeed defeat the Rachni, you were only able to do so with the assistance of the Krogan. Afterwards, they began to expand outward, to the point where they began attacking other colonies for territory."

"When that happened, you struck back, fighting a massive war that lasted for centuries and ended with a biological weapon called the genophage being used against the Krogan, reducing their fertility rates massively. They lost their embassy on the Council and began to fight among themselves, collapsing into tribes on their homeworld and fighting as mercenaries everywhere else." He looked up, "what I find disturbing is even centuries later, at a time where no one from the Krogan rebellions is alive anymore, they are still infected with the Genophage, which is causing the population of their species to drop every year."

"The Krogan are a menace," Sparatus said dismissively, "they fight because they think that it's fun, it's all they know. On their home planet, the most common form of death was by gunshot, and before gunpowder was invented, it was eaten by predator. And this was all before they nuked themselves."

"You may have a point," Marcus replied before looking down at the datapad again. "Another concern of mine is the Quarians. Three hundred years ago, they had a race of machines called the Geth, who began to develop sentience. They panicked and attempted to destroy them, but it backfired and the Geth nearly whipped all of them out and drove them off of their planets. They are confined to a massive fleet now, and their immune systems have grown so weak that breathing in the air I am now would kill them. Despite this, for three hundred years, you have let them travel in space without providing any assistance and you even took away their embassy."

"The Quarians broke Council law," Veemus interjected, "Artificial intelligence is outlawed, they are simply too dangerous. There is too much of a risk of them gaining sentience and wiping out organic life, what happened to the Quarians is living testimony of that. Even today, the Geth are still hiding behind Perseus Veil, doing who knows what. The Quarians exile is punishment for their crimes."

"Which brings another concern of mine to light," Marcus said, "I will not argue about if the Quarians creating the Geth was right or wrong. If they were willing to wipe out the majority of a species that threatened them, even the non-combatants, they cannot be considered completely innocent. But still, the Coalition makes widespread use of artificial intelligence, and I have concerns about how you may wish to act upon that. Our robots even posses artificial intelligence."

"WHAT!" Sparatus shouted. "You gave combat drones artificial intelligence! Are you insane?"

"I"M RIGHT HERE MAGGOT!" the floating Mr. Gutsy shouted, "If you're going to talk to me, grow some balls and look me in the eye while you do it you limp dick little ass fucker!" Sparatus was so shocked by the outburst of the machine that he didn't even reply.

"Yes," Marcus said dryly, looking at the Gutsy, "thank you for that."

"My pleasure sir!" the robot announced, saluting Marcus again.

"Moving forward, another concern that the Coalition has is this race called the Batarians. They appear to make regular raids into Council territory to kidnap people into slavery, despite it being directly against Council law. Yet...you have made no moves against the Batarian government to stop this."

"Try to understand this," Tevos explained, "the Batarians are a very proud people and slavery is deeply ingrained into their culture, which also includes a very strict caste system. We cannot force them to stop without causing a war, which would end more lives that it would save."

"I see," Marcus said. "Two more points. It appears that Council law also outlaws genetic engineering. Meta-Humans and Deathclaws are the direct results of genetic engineering, meaning that we are not permitted by Council law."

"Now wait just a moment-" Sparatus began, but Marcus cut him off.

"And my final and largest concern is this. The Council has a small elite group of agents called Spectres. They are handpicked by the Council themselves and usually belong to races that hold a seat only. They are law enforcement agents that operate above the law, meaning that they can go wherever they please and kill whomever they want." He looked up at the Council, "meaning that they can legally enter our territory and kill our citizens without our consent."

"You make the Spectres sound as if they are loose cannons who commit genocide on a regular basis," Veemus pointed out, "they are handpicked by the Council themselves. We do extensive background checks and testing and even then we reserve the right to strip them of their status at any second."

"I am not arguing with you Councilors, I am merely pointing out the facts," Marcus said calmly. "And the facts say that you have abandoned two species that could be classified as endangered, outlaw artificial intelligence and genetic engineering, making three fifths of those who live under our banner illegal by your laws, you do not enforce laws against slavery within your own boarders and allow your colonies to be attack without repercussions, and you permit agents to kill civilians without proof or justification. Also one final issue, the Council rules over countless other species that have been a part of this organization for centuries, some of them even longer than Turians, and yet they are not granted seats on the Council because they have not 'proven themselves' meaning that they have no say in the laws passed by you that they are forced to follow. These are the facts about you."

"You are viewing them from a warped perspective and twisting them so that you only see the negative sides to them," Sparatus argued. "Everything that we do for a reason."

"I understand that, it is just that we do not agree with you. Also, I do believe that the Council races that are not members are only permitted to have a small amount of warships and dreadnoughts. One for every three the Asari and Salarians have and for every five the Turians have. Am I correct?"

"Yes, young species cannot always be trusted with a surplus of military forces. The Council takes it upon itself to protect them from any hostile forces," Sparatus explained.

"Except the Batarians," Marcus remarked.

"We have explained this already! Any attempt to make a move against the Batarians would be seen as cultural repression and would spark a war," Sparatus shouted. "Why don't you understand that?"

"We do understand that, I also want you to understand something." Marcus took a deep breath before continuing. "Yesterday, the Coalition Parliament came to a very important decision, one that they had been debating about every since we received data on the Council five days ago. Our purpose here would be to establish friendly ties and trade agreements and nothing more."

"Admiral," Tevos began, "are you saying that-"

"Yes," Raul interjected, "the Coalition has no intention of joining the Council."

"No race has ever denied a chance to join the Council!" Veemus exclaimed.

"In the Coalition there is an old saying, there's a first time for everything," Williams said. "We're not interested in joining."

"Did you have a part in this Benezia?" Sparatus demanded, "have you been feeding them false information and smearing the image of the Council?"

"I gave them every last piece of data that I thought that they could possibly need to know about the Council," Benezia snarled, "they didn't tell me about this decision either, they made it on your own. Also, unless you forgot they gave your military quite a bloody nose Councilor but now they're trying to establish friendly ties. If you had any common sense you would be doing your very best to make trade alliances with them and ensure peace."

"Benezia is right," Tevos said, "we stand to gain much to gain from each other. Your technology sounds fascinating, no Council species has ever been able to develop hand held energy weapons before."

"You haven't. We suspected as much," Raul replied grimly, "I am sorry Councilor, but the secrets to creating energy weapons are a classified military secret, civilians aren't even allowed to own them. The same goes for the Forced Evolutionary Virus and our research on robotics. I hope that you understand, I imagine that you wouldn't share military secrets with another species."

"I suppose that you have a point," Sparatus said grudgingly.

"If you could give us coordinates to planets near your borders we could see if we have an colonies within a reasonable travel distance that could stand to benefit from an increase in exports," Tevos offered.

As the conversation switched over to trade, everyone in the room was aware of the same thing. An icy presence seem to hang in the air, creating a low level of constant hostility between the Coalition representatives and the Council. The newcomers to galactic politics were beginning to understand that their announcement had broken thousands of years worth of tradition. While the Council was now keeping their voices level and their tones polite, even Sparatus, all three of them had an edge to them. Even though they were now trying to secure peace, there was an anger burning just beneath the surface, anger that the Coalition had just spat at everything that they stood for. And the Coalition were resentful that the Council had expected them to submit themselves to them. Everyone in the room knew that even if they were successful at establishing peace, it would be a very cold and tense peace.

XXXXX

Lieutenant Victus paused in front lobby of an emergency care center on the Citadel, specifically designed for soldiers that had to go straight from the docks to intensive care. "Can I help you sir?" a young Asari Maiden said from a customer service window right next to the front door.

"Yes, I am here to see Private Saren Arterius, I received word that he was no longer in critical condition."

"Just a moment," the Asari said before typing into the terminal in front of her. "Arterius...Arterius...ah yes, he had surgery two days ago that stabilized him. He's healthy enough that he can have visitors if that is what you're here for."

"Yes, I am. I wanted to check up on him, making sure that he is coping all right. I would appreciate it if you could just tell me where he's staying."

"Certainly, just head on in. He's on this floor, third door on your right. But please," she hesitated before continuing, "the doctors had to give him rather noticeable cybernetic implants. Please don't bring it up, receiving implants is known to be a extremely traumatic experience for some."

"I understand," Victius said before walking through the main doors and heading deeper into the hospital. As he did, he walked past a door that opened for a few seconds as a doctor walked in, allowing him to catch a glance of a Turian lying on a bed with bandages covering his chest. "So many were wounded in the conflict," Victius muttered, "but at least they will live."

Before too long he came to the door that the Asari had told him about, stopping outside of it. Gently, he reached out and rapped the door. "Who is it?" a weak voice said.

"Lieutenant Adrien Victus. I'm not sure if you know who I am but-"

"Lieutenant? Please come in."

Victus did as he was told, pressing a button next to the door which caused it to slide open. Saren was lying in bed. As Victus looked at him he realized that the Asari had not been exaggerating. Saren's right arm had been replaced with a gray mechanical one, but what really jumped out was the work done to his face. Large pieces of Saren's jaw seemed to be missing and his face seemed to be held together by pieces of cybernetics. To top it all off, Saren's eyes had been replaced with implants as well, giving them an eerie blue glow.

Victus did his very best to hide his surprise, but Saren wasn't fooled. A weak smile spread across his face as he managed to pushed himself into a sitting position. "It's all right Lieutenant, I already looked in the mirror. That explosion did a lot of damage, they had to amputate my arm and my one good eye didn't last very long. But you know what? It doesn't matter. I may not have much luck finding a mate like this, but the doctors said that in a couple of weeks I'll be ready to go back into active combat. If I can still fight, so what if I need a couple of implants?"

Victus resisted the urge to chuckle. 'He is taking this far better than I thought he would,' he thought, 'but then again in many ways he is still just a child, but his spirit is admirable.' He spoke aloud, trying to keep his voice from shaking. "I am glad to hear that you are doing well."

"Lieutenant" Saren began, his voice faltering slightly "I need to ask you something and I need you to tell me the truth. Can you do that?" Victus nodded. "Ok. When I was being taken to a dropship, my eyesight was almost gone, but I saw one of those alien giants was about to open fire on me. My brother charged it and drew its fire away, but there were so many enemy soldiers. I blacked out not long after and the doctors refused to tell me anything. Lieutenant. Is my brother..." Victus nodded sadly.

"I see," Saren said softly. Victus noticed that Saren was idly reaching up to his glowing blue eyes, as if to wipe away tears. There weren't any there. Saren realized this and, stiffly and slowly, lowered his hand. "Still, he didn't die for nothing. He died covering our retreat. Dozens of Turian soldiers are still alive because of him," He looked up at Victus, a look of determination on his face. "I'm proud of him. I'm proud of his sacrifice." He managed a weak smile, "besides, I heard that those aliens made peace with the Council and are meeting with them now. They should be member species within a year or two."

"Uh...Saren?"

"And thank the Spirits for that, these newcomers desperately need Council regulation. They used synthetics Lieutenant. Synthetics. Are they insane? Don't they know how dangerous that can be for themselves and the galaxy?"

"Saren,"

"And hopefully their military will be reduced too, the last thing that we need is inexperienced aliens with a massive military-"

"SAREN!"

The young Turian jumped slightly in bed as he looked at Victus. "Oh, sorry Lieutenant, I was babbling. What was it?"

"I just received word from Matriarch Benezia. I helped her in making contact with the aliens. And...and she says that they are refusing to join the Council."

"I...what?" Saren said disbelief heavy in his voice. "They're refusing? But the Council is doing something about this isn't they? They can't just let these people run around unchecked."

"Benezia said that they're not."

"But why?"

"The Coalition has actually been a space faring civilization for a long time, they've got quite a sizable military, long enough to hold out against the Council for a long time. A war with them would be long and bloody. The Council decided that it wasn't worth subjugating them."

Saren looked down at his cybernetic arm in disbelief. 'The Council is letting them roam free?' he thought. Minutes ticked by, and as he did, his disbelief slowly turned to anger, his fingers tightening into fists. In a flash he grabbed the small table that was placed next to his bed and, using his biotics, threw it as hard as he could at the window to his room, shattering it into a thousand pieces.

He panted heavily, looking at the shattered window, rage flaring across his face. "Forgive me Lieutenant, I need to be alone right now."

"I understand," Victus said as he exited the room. As he stepped outside, he let out a weary sigh and began to walk away, even as doctors ran towards the room to investigate the noise the shattered glass had made.

XXXXX

CODEX UPDATED

ENTRIES ADDED

The Forced Evolutionary Virus (FEV): A serum dating back to Pre-War America, the FEV is something that has shaped post-war Earth for generations. Originally used by the Master to create his army of Meta-Humans, the FEV has since then been captured by the Coalition and refined to the point where it can be used to create intelligent Meta-Humans safely, as well as intelligent Deathclaws. Despite popular opinion on the matter, FEV has nothing to do with the transformation from a Standard-Human to a Necro-Human

However, FEV potentially has the ability to transform organisms in any way possible, however FEV is not experimented with to explore these possibilities for a very simple reason, it is dangerous. The FEV cannot transform individual body parts and an entire person is required to test a strain of FEV, which must then be modified based on the results. Hundreds of people were killed in experiments before the Coalition could perfect the FEV, in addition to the people killed by the Master when he originally used the virus.

Modifying the virus to do anything else other than create Meta-Humans and intelligent Deathclaws would cause the deaths of hundreds, even more if it was done to create a strain to change aliens, as there is no prior data on how it affects them. Coalition officials have outlawed experimenting with the FEV on the grounds that it is an inhumane practice, with one member of Parliament remarked "Only an organization that is morally bankrupt would even consider paying the price needed to modify the Forced Evolutionary Virus."

XXXXX

ACCESSING COALITION DATABASE PLEASE WAIT...

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SEARCH: War assets

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COALITION: The Coalition made itself known to the galactic public in the early 28th century. A collection of Standard-Humans, Necro-Humans, Meta-Humans, Deathclaws and robots, the Coalition captured the eyes of many. Public opinion about them couldn't be more divided, but most agree that the Coalition is a force to be reckoned with.

COALITION NAVY: MILITARY STRENGTH 1200: Standing at 500 warships strong, the Coalition Navy incorporates countless warships as well as models not produced by any other galactic power in the galaxy, in addition to a dedicated merchant fleet. They are unbound by the Treaty of Farixen, and while they currently only possess two dozen dreadnoughts, far less than the number of Turian dreadnoughts, the Coalition is vigorously attempting to build more. The fleet as a whole dwarfs any fleet belonging to a non-member race and is on par with the Turian fleet in terms of size.

COALITION LIGHT INFANTRY: MILITARY STRENGTH 150: Spanning across over a hundred planets, the light infantry are the backbone of the Coalition's ground forces. They are varied in terms of uniform, tactics and training, giving the Coalition a wide arsenal to chose from when combating any threat.

COALITION HEAVY INFANTRY: MILITARY STRENGTH 150: While lacking the numbers and style of the light infantry, the Heavy Infantry uses weapons that are either rarely seen or are completely absent from the light infantry, and wear power armor into battle, making them some of the more formidably forces of the Coalition.

COALITION RANGERS: MILITARY STRENGTH 50: Easily the smallest branch of the Coalition's armed forces, the Rangers are special forces of the military, individually, they are the most skilled and deadly. When they are deployed into a situation, it is because it has proven itself to be too dangerous for standard military personal to handle.

COALITION MECHANIZED INFANTRY: MILITARY STRENGTH 150: Made up of synthetic life forms, the mechanized infantry is commonly deployed alongside both the light and heavy infantry. Using Mr. Gutsies and sentry bots as the brunt of its force but also employing many other models of robots, the mechanized infantry is an invaluable part of the Coalition military.

COALITION STALKER CORPS: MILITARY STRENGTH 150: A branch of the military comprised completely of Deathclaws, the Stalkers use stealth tactics as a first resort, preferring to get close to their targets. Calm, patient and calculating, Deathclaws are not satisfied unless their first blow is their last one.

COALITION MILITIA: MILITARY STRENGTH 75: As a side affect of growing up on a hostile homeworld, the average citizen of the Coalition owns a firearm and has experience using it. Many citizens have formed voluntary militias, which, while lacking the firepower and organization in combat, have proven themselves time and time again to be valuable assets.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a chapter I really don't like as much as I used to. I have several years worth of hindsight on this one, so it could be chalked up to that, but things favor the Coalition far too much, just in terms of them not getting hit with good counter-arguments. I still would've had both sides take the stances that they did, but I would've written things much differently. The bit with the Mr. Gutsy really makes me cringe nowadays. The rest of this note is part of the original chapter's Author's Note that I thought was worth bringing over.
> 
> Just in case anyone is put off by these numbers, allow me to explain my reasoning. I did the math for the Alliance navy war assets in ME3 and it came up to around 600 points, and that was with a fully upgraded Normandy and if they didn't take any losses saving the Destiny Ascension and if you count the research flotilla. Keep in mind that the Alliance was supposed to have a pitiful amount of dreadnoughts in comparison to the rest of the Council (only 8 vs the Salarians and Asari, who had 20ish each and the Turians, who had 30ish) and was limited to 200 warships.
> 
> Therefore, I'd say that the Coalition, with a fleet of 500 warships and around 20 dreadnoughts, would be twice as strong as the Alliance. Keep in mind that this is because the Coalition has been in space for about three centuries, while the Alliance wasn't even in space for one, and as one reviewer pointed out, makes more sense for a power that managed to go toe to toe with the greatest military force in the galaxy than a species that still had much of its population on its homeworld. Also if a single Marine division can rack up 100 asset points, I'd say giving each branch of the Coalition ground forces 150 isn't really pushing it that much.
> 
> I'd like to thank my Patrons SuperFeatherYoshi, xXNanamiXx, and Ryan Van Schaack for their amazing support.


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